Potter Band
by Skye Phoenix Dove
Summary: I know the title's lame, it was my little sister's idea. Nico goes to Hogwarts with four other demigods (Draco, Neville, Alabaster, OC Luna) to help fight against Voldermort, sort of. Wizards eventually get suspicious, as do the seven and the camps. Set in third year, anything after Chamber Of Secrets is not canon. Rated T because I'm paranoid.
1. Nico di Angelo O

**This isn't really a chapter, it's a prologue. The next one's a lot longer, I promise.**

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****Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter nor **Percy Jackson &amp; The Olympians******

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—Nico di Angelo—

Keep an eye on Harry Potter, that was my assignment. Try to make sure he doesn't die if possible. Until then, I can't return to the giant war.

The gods have manipulated the mist so that Reyna and Coach Hedge forgot everything about me shadow-traveling around with them. Instead, both of them are being guided through a safe current by Poseidon while I have to go to school.

And the craziest thing is that I'm not the least bit upset!


	2. Harry Potter I

**I won't be able to update as constant as always. I think I can update faster than most do but please don't hate me if I leave for a few days.**

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****Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter nor **Percy Jackson &amp; The Olympians******

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—Harry Potter—

Third year. And this time, I had been spending a wonderful summer with the Weaselys, who were pleasantly shocked at the donation I had given them in exchange for my stay. They probably would've let me anyway, but I felt better doing that.

Now, we were on platform nine-and-three-quarters, hoping to spot Hermione.

"She's not here." Ron declared at last. "Might as well wait for her on the train."

I agreed with him, and turned to the wall when suddenly I noticed a young boy looking very lost.

Well, he wasn't really that young, but he was short and skinny and probably only our age. The boy had messy black hair and was quite pale. He was wearing a black sweater and black jeans too and was holding nothing but a small silver backpack.

"Um, are you lost?" I asked with a bit of uncertainty. He turned to look at me then gave a slight smile.

"Actually I am." he said quietly. "Could you tell me how to get onto platform nine-and-three-quarters?"

It caught me with some surprise, as I never seen him before yet he seemed to be my age.

"Erm, yes." I said. "Just run straight through the wall, it will be as if it's not there."

Ron then came over and tugged on my arm and we ran through the wall together.

We were waiting in our compartment, the last one empty when we arrived, and finally spotted Hermione out the window.

"Finally." said Ron with a sigh. Just then, the compartment doors opened and the small boy walked in.

"Excuse me," he asked. "Is there any space here? Most of the other compartments are full."

More than true. This was the last one empty but far from the last seat.

"Okay." I said to him. For some reason, Ron shivered.

He sat down and put his backpack on his lap. After a minute or two Hermione finally walked in.

"Sorry I'm late, the traffic was awful." she said as she sat down next to Ron. Then she noticed the boy. "Oh, who are you?"

He seemed a bit uncomfortable. "My name is Nico di Angelo."

She looked curious. "How come I've never seen you before?" he looked a bit miffed.

"I'm eleven." he answered coolly.

I was shocked, even if he is rather small for our age he had that look of maturity about him.

Then he looked up at me with curiosity and, breaking the awkward silence, asked, "Are you Harry Potter?"

I sighed, not wanting to go through this again. "Yes."

His eyes travelled over my partially-hidden scar and I braced myself for the barrage of questions that are no doubt about to come, but he surprised me by nodding mutely and pulling out a book to read.

The three of us were surprised but that Hermione's thoughts were quickly pulled away as she regarded a boy who actually likes reading with interest.

"You like reading?" she asked him.

He lowered his book and looked her in the eye. "I don't mean to be rude, but is that odd here in England? Everyone I know likes to read sometimes during their spare time."

Hermione got even more interested. "What do you mean by 'here in England'? Aren't you from around here?"

"I'm from America." he said sincerely. "Although I don't spend all my time there. Is England often as cold as this?"

"Is it very warm in America? And what do you mean by not spending all your time there?"

"Well, not all the time, although where I usually am it is most days. I like to travel around a lot. Is Hogwarts really as routine as they make out?"

"How do you get enough money to travel around so much? Do you live with your parents or other family?"

"Do you always answer a question with another question? It's a bit annoying." he said suddenly, giving her a look of amusement.

Hermione stopped then flushed.

"Wow! You got Hermione to shut up!" Ron gasped in mock-amazement.

"Shut up, Ronald." she muttered.

Nico tilted his head. "Ronald and Hermione, then? Or maybe Ron for you?"

Again, we were surprised that he had figured it out.

"Yeah." said Ron.

Nico nodded and went back to his book.

"What are you reading?" Hermione couldn't resist asking. Then her expression changed to confusion. "What language is that?"

He put the book down on his lap and glanced at the cover. "Oh, ah, Greek Myths &amp; Legends. The writing is in Latin."

Hermione looked skeptically impressed. "You can read Latin?" she confirmed first.

Nico began to go red. "Yes. I'm dyslexic, but certain languages were easier for me to pick up. English is my third language."

"Really?" I asked. "What about your first and second?"

"My first is Italian." he said with a slightly-dreamy expression. "As my mother was Italian and that was where I was born. My second is Greek. My father was really into Greece and Rome so I learned Latin too."

"So you know four languages?" gasped Ron. "Even with your dyslexia?"

He scratched his head a little sheepishly, looking embarrassed for some reason, and said, "Actually, I speak German, Chinese, French, Japanese and a bit of Malay too. I usually travel to countries with those."

Again, surprise! Surprise!

"What's Hogwarts like?" he asked suddenly. "I've been hearing wild stories about the sorting but I've never really known the gossip from the truth. What are the houses again?"

"You put on this hat and it'll look through your head and memories and stuff and talk to you a bit then yell out which house you're in." I said, noticing how he paled at the mention of memories,

"Gryffindor, for the brave," started Hermione, giving him a meaningful look that stated she knew exactly which house she wanted him to be in, "Ravenclaw, for the smart," a thoughtful look crossed her face as she studied him, "Slytherin, for the sneaky," she wrinkled her nose, "And Hufflepuff, for the loyal."

Nico looked a bit put out, the way Ron said I had when we had been thinking about which house we would be in on our first year, but to our surprise he said, "I bet I'll be in Slytherin."

"What?!" said Hermione. "But you're made for Ravenclaw!"

He shook his head dejectedly. "Just because I know a lot doesn't make me smart, Hermione. And I'm not brave either, I run away from things I'm scared off, which is a lot. I'm not that loyal, there are tons of things people can say to get me on their side. Besides, everyone judges me on my father, I'm bound to be in Slytherin."

Ron gulped. "So… who's the dad?"

Nico turned to look at him and I didn't miss the shiver from Ron. "Oh, you wouldn't know him."


	3. Nico di Angelo II

**I'm updating again! Don't expect them to be this fast, okay? Also, I'll be insulting the demigods a lot in this story, so I'm sorry if I offend your favorite character or something.**

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_To thegirlthathidesinhermind: Hi, thanks for reviewing. I think you made a really good point about everything. The thing is, I'm not really sure why this should all be more important than the demigod war, I just felt like writing it and it was the only way I could imagine that made sense to me. I suppose you could say the gods were originally ignoring the demigods because they could actually win the war easily by interfering anyway. As for Nico being eleven, again, I just felt like doing that, still think of him as a little kid so that's one of the things I changed from canon.__To be honest, I didn't really think things through when I wrote this fanfiction. This is just for fun. But I appreciate your advice!_

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****Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter nor **Percy Jackson &amp; The Olympians******

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—Nico di Angelo—

Harry Potter seemed a lot like Percy, minus the humor and the confidence. He was much kinder than Percy, or at least, he was more sensitive to other people's feelings. Of course, one look into his eyes told me that the kid was a legacy of Hecate, no doubt about it.

Hermione Granger was just like Annabeth, only she seemed more mindful as well and truly appreciated knowledge. She was also less full of herself and knew her place.

Ron Weasely was the one I'd have to watch. He was far more observant and rather pessimistic, I could tell the moment I laid eyes on him.

The boat ride wasn't as nerve-wrecking as it would usually be, and I mentally thanked Hecate for getting all the gods to bless me. In fact, I was starting to get quite excited at the idea of actually learning to swim and having the chance to fly.

Somewhere within Hogwarts were four other students waiting incognito for me, Alabaster, Draco, Nyroc and Luna.

Alabaster Torrington, son of Hecate, former ally of the titans and an expert at runes. He was posing as Nathaniel (Nate for short) Jackson, a thin freckly Ravenclaw with an uncontrollable stammer and had only last year acquired enough money to attend Hogwarts. His excuse of being in Harry's year, two years below him, was that he had not enough education because of that setback. Thanks to Dumbledore's announcement on the matter he wasn't very inconspicuous but his phony nervousness and shyness hid him well. All lies.

Draco Lightbringer, son of Athena, half-wizard orphan and a very skilled mist-user. He used the mist to create his identity as Draco Malfoy, a spoiled brat that liked picking on Harry's friends and often made nasty schemes that backfired badly (yeah right, those were totally intentional). As a self-achieved child billionaire in reality, Draco was able to play up his role of loving fame, hating cowards, and posing as the perfect Slytherin. When in actuality, he and Nyroc had purposely set up Harry more than once to get him into Quidditch, the forbidden corridor, and most importantly Draco had made sure Harry didn't let himself get put in Slytherin. Nobody would ever guess.

Nyroc Lasky, son of Thanatos, born as a sorcerer and loves hellfire. His alias was Neville Longbottom, with mistforms serving as his extended family. Neville was nervous and a bit silly, always forgetting things and panicking at the simplest encounters, but made a friend in Harry Potter. If only they knew how many weapons he snuck in, how he purposely left his remembrall behind so that Harry could get onto the Quidditch team, how long he stayed awake at night listening for the monsters that came for Potter, how many times he bit his cheek and said the wrong answer instead for the effort of looking dim. If only they knew.

Luna Amato, daughter of Trivia, former centurion and suffers from emotional trauma. Therefore her cover; Luna Lovegood, a dreamy-eyed airhead who was smart and loyal but often didn't make much sense. Pretending to not have a care in the worked helped both her and their valuable mission. Luna's job was mainly to observe, just as Alabaster's was, and Draco's job was to deflect his anger, and Nyroc's job was to hold trusting.

I was going in as Nico di Angelo with my favorite act, just an innocent young boy who was rather scared about everything going on in the magical world but happened to excel in it. Technically, it was true, and all I had to do was stop pretending to be brave, as well as calling back some social skills and acting more innocent.

Now that I was here, the Potter Band was apparently complete. Everyone on this mission were good actors, but obviously I was the most mysterious of them all. The truth would all come out soon, if the Golden Trio were as golden as everyone made out.

Harry, Hermione, Ron, huh. Maybe I could have some real friends at last. I knew I could depend on Alabaster (sorry, Nate), Draco, Nyroc/Neville, and Luna (finally an easy one).

Suddenly, I heard my name called.

"di Angelo, Nico!"

I walked over at my slow-but-somehow-fast pace and took a millisecond to process everything.

Over at the red table was where Harry, Hermione and Ron were sitting. I could see Nyroc (Neville, must remember to call him Neville) sitting next to them with a very convincing look of worry as he lifted the tablecloths to look for his 'naughty' toad (as if, we trained him to do that). I knew he saw me when he glanced up and gave me a strong encouraging smile that he must've suppressed for the entire ride.

At the green table, I could see Draco talking with his mates in a high-and-mighty air. He caught my eye and gave me a sly wink and gestured to the snake banner, although I knew he was just teasing.

Alabaster (uh, Nate) was sitting at the blue table, drawing spirals and designs on his paper napkin. He noticed me, flipped his pen all professional-like and pretended to hold it like a sword with a serious fcae before grinning and pretending to drop it. Spot-on imitation of Percy!

Luna was twirling a lock of hair around her finger with a dreamy look in her eyes but all he need to do was see the faint half-smile to know she was still functioning properly. She took a sip from a glass of something and nodded her head vaguely in my direction.

I reached the hat and pulled it over my head.


	4. Ronald Weasley III

_To Guest705: Thanks for pointing out that mistake. I've changed it._

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****Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter nor **Percy Jackson &amp; The Olympians******

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—Ron Weasely—

"Slytherin, definitely." I told them.

"Ron! Look at how smart he is, look at his attitude! He can't be Slytherin!"

"I agree with Hermione, Ron, he seems to too innocent to be Slytherin-worthy." Obviously, though, Harry was probably thinking about how he hadn't wanted to be in Slytherin and didn't get in because of that during first year.

I rolled my eyes. "Guys, this has all gone to your head! Think, bloodlines! That's the first factor!"

They both gave me unamused looks.

I sighed. "Well, take a look at him! Look, people! I'm telling you, there's something wrong about him!"

Nico's eyes swept over the table in the millisecond he walked past them. His eyes, pitch-black with a dark melancholy of death, made me shiver. I noticed Hermione and Ron do the same.

"What was that?" asked Hermione.

"I told you, something's off about that kid." I said.

As he put on the hat, Neville shifted over since he felt more comfortable with us.

"Who's the new kid?" he asked.

"Nico di Angelo." said Hermione. "Poor thing reckons he would be in Slytherin, but I know he's destined for Ravenclaw."

"Or Gryffindor, possibly Hufflepuff." put in Harry.

"Nah, he's right. Slytherin." I told him. My two friends scowled.

Neville cocked his head. "Look at his eyes. Slytherin, or Gryffindor. Unlikely Ravenclaw."

Two solid minutes were up, I was starting to wonder what took them so long. I knew if you had a lot of solid or important memories sometimes it took longer but this was strange since he was only a new kid. Plus, I could see him trembling a little and the hat was actually squirming.

Then it opened it's mouth and…


	5. Nico di Angelo IV

**And his house is...**

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_To Littleheartache and ClareArcher: Thanks for reviewing! Your reviews really made my day!_

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****Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter nor **Percy Jackson &amp; The Olympians******

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—Nico di Angelo—

Well, well, a demigod.

Am I talking to a hat?

Yes, you are.

Alright. At least I'm not going crazy.

You seem quite controlled for a demigod.

Part of the job.

But even your mind is calm, which is hard.

Eh. Do you talk with every student, or just me?

Every student if it takes long. So.

So.

Are you going to let me have a look at your memories?

Well, I see the mind-blocking thing worked. I wasn't sure it would.

I see. Smart, but not exactly fit for Ravenclaw.

Heavens, no, if that's like an Athena cabin equivalent.

I could just put you in Slytherin.

Figures. Care to elaborate?

Your attitude. And a son of Hades should fit in quite nicely.

You are not going to judge me on my father, hat.

Well, you'll have to let me look at your memories then, won't you?

Grumble.

Going once… going twice…

Fine. But you asked for it.

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**I'm sorry for making you wait more for his house! Next chapter, I promise!**

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**The next chapter may take a little longer, though, I'm kind of stuck a bit. I promise I won't make you wait more than three days. Swear on the River Styx.**


	6. Alabaster Torrington V

**HI! I'm back! Sorry I missed a few days, this chapter took a little longer somehow. But I think the next one should be quicker.**

**The characters that are undercover will use their real names in the titles and not their fake names.**

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_To phoenix010: My time zone is very different from yours then. Even if I updated at 4 a.m. where you are I actually updated at 7 p.m. where I am._

_To Guest: Thanks for reviewing! I'm glad you like it!_

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****Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter nor **Percy Jackson &amp; The Olympians******

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—Alabaster Torrington—

I smiled inwardly as the hat first began to squirm, then began to scream. Nico trembled a bit, probably at having to relive a big chunk of his memories, but he still managed to keep himself in control and probably his mind too. Way to make an entrance.

Outwardly, though, I widened my eyes and shuddered. An entire year of doing this and I had already given up on hating this character Nathaniel (Nate for short) Jackson. It wasn't worth it. My deal was better than Nyroc's and Draco's, but it was still annoying.

All of us found it a bit unfair that Nico got to have an easy role, but we weren't really that far off.

Nico had played scared, lonely, innocent yet powerful, little brother Nico di Angelo before in the mortal world, so it made sense to do it here since the witches and wizards were still considered mortals. I played stuttering, lonely, sometimes-hyperactive boy through half of my life, with more aliases than I could count. Luna found comfort in her role. Nyroc struggled a bit to remain 'useless'. Mostly, it was Draco that found it annoying, since he had to use his annoying genes from Athena to be the bad boy.

Either way, it was going to be harder to communicate now that we were all but two going to be in different houses.

Any plan created would depend on which house Nico was placed in. I was the only one who thought there was a small chance he might end up in Hufflepuff thanks to his kindness. All four of us were still betting Gryffindor.

The hat had been squirming from the bad memories than suddenly it screamed then shouted, "Alright, alright, enough!" I saw Nico's mouth twist into a small cheeky smile under the hat.

Ravenclaw sat close to the front, so I heard the hat when it said quietly,

"To see that much and still have your sanity…"

Then Nico's soft chuckle and reply, "Didn't know I still had it."

"Well then, for sheer courage," the hat said louder, "GRYFFINDOR."

I resisted the urge to fist-pump, instead I recoiled into my seat but winked discreetly as he passed.

Some questions will be raised, some questions will be answered, that's how things worked here in Hogwarts.

As soon as everyone else had been sorted, Dumbledore stood, prodded by my manipulations. "Thank you. Now, one of our new students, Nico di Angelo, is from an advanced school in America, New York, Long Isl— Therefore he will be joining the third years and be in the same classes as Harry Potter, to make things simpl—. Hope everyone has fun in Hogwarts!" he said the last two sentences rather rushed as everyone turned to look at Nico, who was genuinely uncomfortable.

Draco turned in his seat as well. But, far from even glancing at Nico, he turned and glared fiercely at me. Oops, too much info and far too obvious, guess I overdid it.

Everyone began to eat and I, being ignored as usual, pulled a book out and sat it on my lap. Nobody thought twice when I looked down, or noticed when I changed my reading light into a sacrificial flame, and disintegrated a piece of bread in the fire for the gods.

Gryffindor, huh? This was going to be a bit more tricky then.


	7. Harry Potter VI

**I know I'm taking a bit longer to update nowadays. Please bear with it. I probably can only update once or twice a week from now.**

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_To Kerowyn6: I totally agree! Thanks for the compliments!_

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****Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter nor **Percy Jackson &amp; The Olympians******

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—Harry Potter—

I didn't want to agree with Ron, especially after Nico was announced as a Gryffindor, but I had to admit that there was something strange about him. The ghosts even bowed down to him when he came close. Then they scrambled away as he said something under his breath, which was odd.

The last empty seat at their table happened to be next to Ron, so that's were he sat. I was directly opposite him this time. Then I noticed the cold darkness of his eyes and almost shivered myself.

But I wasn't particularly worried. He seemed nice enough and my scar wasn't hurting like it would if he was truly evil.

"Hi." I said as he sat down.

Hermione brightened. "Hello, Nico. You know, I was just telling Ron and Harry that if you didn't get into Ravenclaw, you'll be in Gryffindor. And I was right, wasn't I? It's great that you're in this house, actually. It'll make things so much more proper, I hope. Course, we won't be in the same classes, but it'll be wonderful all the same!"

For a moment I thought he might actually be listening to Hermione.

Suddenly, Dumbledore spoke up even though he didn't usually make announcements like this.

"Thank you. Now, one of our new students, Nico di Angelo, is from an advanced school in America, New York, Long Isl— Therefore he will be joining the third years and be in the same classes as Harry Potter, to make things simpler— Hope everyone has fun in Hogwarts!"

I was shocked and saw Ron narrow his eyes at the boy sitting next to him while Nico looked uncomfortable.

Hermione, however, was estatic.

"Your school must be amazing if you're allowed to jump years! When I first arrived I was so worried about learning everything because, it is hard, even though Harry and Ron claim I did alright. Which school did you go to? I wasn't even sure if there were wizards in America but now I wish I knew before then maybe I could've gone to a good school like yours. What kind of courses do you have? Oh, it's going to be just wonderful having you in the same classes as us!"

Nico managed to give the impression that he was listening to her as he eyed the food that was being given out.

"You're gonna have to eat more than that." I said to him, pointing at the single sandwich on his plate.

"I'm not very hungry." he answered.

"But you've got to eat more, or what's the point of living?" asked Fred.

George grabbed his plate and piled something from almost every dish onto his plate, including some of Hogwarts' delicious treacle pudding.

Nico pouted teasingly even though his eyes were wide staring at the plate with longing. "I'm not a child, I can take care of myself."

"Get used to it." said Ron with an unbidden grin. "Now that you're in our year, you're going to be the baby for a long time."

He sighed exaggeratedly, making us all laugh, even Ron.

The twins calmed down. "I'm Fred." said Fred, sticking out his hand.

"And I'm George." said George, mimicking the action. "We're some of Ron's older brothers."

Nico didn't shake either of theirs. Instead he pointed at Fred and said, "You're George." then he pointed at George. "And you're Fred."

They both stared at him in awe. "How did you know?"

Nico raised an eyebrow. "You twins are all the same. Plus, I've seen too many tricks to fall for that one."

Oops. Looks like I got fooled by that.

Then Ginny swapped chairs over next to me. "Hi."

"Ginny, this is Nico di Angelo." announced Hermione.

"Hi, I'm Ginny Weasely." she said with a smile.

"Hi." he said, not meeting her eyes which is a relief cause she probably would've been freaked out by his pitch-black eyes.

"I'm Neville, Neville Longbottom." said Neville.

"Hello, Neville."

After that, we had a usual chatter while Hermione went on and on to Nico. I considered trying to save him, but he seemed to be perfectly fine with listening to her drone on and answering her questions once in a while.

Later, Percy came over after saying hello to all the other Gryffindors.

"Hello there, I'm Percy Weasely." he said, putting out his hand but giving Nico a stern look, probably because at that moment the twins had been bombarding him with stories of their major pranks (at the same time Hermione was talking and Nico seemed to be able to listen to all of them).

Nico reached out and shook his hand then pointed to his head boy badge.

"You're head boy." he said.

Percy nodded, obviously waiting for him to say something unflattering like George and Fred were.

Instead, he just nodded and said, "I see. Well, I'm just going to have to make sure not to get into any trouble and make your job easier, won't I?"

Percy looked surprised but pleasantly pleased about this and he nodded. "There's good in you, kid. Keep it up."

If Hermione could be any more impressed, she was. I liked Nico too, but it just seemed so much like Gilderoy Lockhart all over again.

It was fun to see Nico's reactions when we got to our dormitory. Apparently since he was going to be in all the same classes as us he was also going to be in the same dorm as me, Ron, Neville, Dean, and Seamus. It was a bit curious how that silver backpack was indeed his only piece of luggage, but I shrugged it off.

Ron had been right when he mentioned Nico would be like the baby of the group. Seamus and Dean fussed over him and helped him with his stuff just to annoy him, and Neville drew hearts all over his schoolbooks with paper-resistant ink which seemed to freak him out before he realized that the ink wouldn't stay on the paper anyway. Ron and I couldn't resist joining in and enchanted the bed so that it looked and felt like it was wet when you touched it then didn't when you took your hand away. The teasing lessened after he rolled his eyes at us and smirked.

"Yeah, I get it, I'm the little newbie that can't cast a spell to stop a jinx. But I know a trick you wizards probably don't know."

Dean narrowed his eyes at him. "What?" he asked teasingly.

Nico sat down on the bed. "This, my friend, is what we call: a pillow fight."

The next thing that happened was a pillow smacking into my side.

We definitely should've seen that coming!

The playing field evened out after that, until Professor McGonagall came in and told us that 1) we should be sleeping and 2) feathers are meant to stay inside of the pillows and we better get them cleaned up.

The look on Nico's face when Professor McGonagall said 'clean this mess up' was hilarious.

Before we got into bed Ron said Hermione probably would've been jealous.


	8. Hermione Granger VII

**Okay! I've edited it up! Sorry, I'm usually in a hurry when I originally update this stuff and my iPad messes everything up.**

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_To Kerowyn6: Thanks! So, day, I'll be doing a chapter from Ron's perspective soon. He's a lot more, um, smart in this fic. I know how weird it is that Nico is all sweet and innocent, but the thing about these five uncover characters are that they're all pretty much acting most of the time. Plus, after going through Tartarus and everything, I think we can say that he's actually pretty scared of the war by now. Thanks for the advice, though._

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****Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter nor **Percy Jackson &amp; The Olympians******

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—Hermione Granger—

Nico di Angelo was just so… interesting would be the right word.

I still wasn't sure about him completely. He was fascinating; smart, respectful, not too shy or jittery but not terribly bold either. He was so similar to Harry in that he was odd, but that was it.

All these things ran through my mind as I was tossing and turning in bed the night before. Hogwarts hadn't even gone through twenty-four hours yet, but just like the previous years, everything was already so interesting.

The boys took ages to wake up. Nico got down early and said Ron, Harry, Dean and Seamus had threatened him with hexes when he tried to wake them up. After he apologized, I thought about it.

"Leave them." I decided. "They'll get down in time, they always do." they deserve a little shaking up.

"Are you sure?" he had asked hurriedly, looking a bit flustered as he tried to tame his hair, which was half as wild as Harry's, but already major deal. "I wouldn't want them to get into any trouble, you know."

If only everyone else could be that considerate! "Nah, they won't get into any trouble."

Sure enough, all four boys came running into the hall just before Dumbledore appeared.

"You could've woken us up!" exclaimed Ron, shooting Nico a fierce glare.

Nico shrugged. He gestured towards me. "She told me to leave you. "

I gave them a sly smile to which they both responded with mild glares before Draco interrupted us.

"Well, look, it's the baby of the group." he said, coming up with Crabbe and Golye and behind him.

Nico sighed. I had a feeling he was already tired of this joke.

"Pick on someone your own size." I snapped.

"Oh, really, Granger?" he sneered at me, which I was used to anyway, before turning back to him. "So I guess you need your girlfriend to stick up for you, huh?"

I flushed while Harry glowered at him and Ron opened his mouth to say something, but Nico beat him to it.

"Well, I don't see your girlfriend backing you up. Too embarrassed to be seen near you… Malcolm, is it?" he said slyly.

For some reason, Nico not knowing his name seemed to shock Malfoy more than anything we had ever said back to him, but he quickly snapped out of it and gave Nico a seething glare. "What are you doing here, anyway? Wouldn't you be going off to that monstrosity of Ruralwings, back in your precious America?"

Nico rolled his eyes in response. "That's Rivalwings, ferret, get your facts right."

Malfoy blushed furiously.

Rivalwings was the American school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I hadn't really read that much about it.

Nico pushed away his half-eaten plate of food. "Just so you know, ferret, I may spend most of my time in America, but that doesn't mean I'm an American citizen. Rivalwings may be the best school round the North American continent, but I'll reckon Hogwarts could give then a good run for their money. I wonder if I could say the same about you, are you a charity case?" he put in with mock seriousness.

Malfoy seemed in rage. "Do you know who I am?!"

Nico arched an eyebrow. "Sorry, I don't understand you when you speak like that. Try calming down and talking in English, I haven't learned Ferret."

"It's Malfoy! Draco Malfoy!" he almost yelled.

Nico smiled charmingly. "Yeah, right. And I'm Bond, James Bond."

The few muggle-raised in the crowd that had gathered laughed at the reference.

"My father is in the Ministry!" he yelled. "Surely you've heard of him!"

Nico scoffed. "Yeah, the guy who threw a sock at his house-elf? Quite a scene he made in Diagon Alley in front of Lockhart that day."

"Do not bring my father into this!"

"Hello? You're the one who brought him up."

"I wonder if that big talk has anything to go by."

"More than you. Actually, I think you better run!" he said, eyes widening suddenly.

Malfoy looked confused and maybe a bit scared. "Why?"

"There are two gorillas staring at you, right behind you!"

Everyone burst into laughter as Malfoy swung round out of instinct then got the trick and turned back.

"I'm warning you, di Angel—"

"Sorry, did you just call me an angel? Now I know I'm great but that's pushing it a bit too far, isn't it, Malcolm?"

Malfoy exploded (not literally) as he turned and stomped away with Crabbe and Golye following behind him.

Harry stared after him. "Not good, Nico, you don't want to have Malfoy's father on your bad side."

Like he was one to talk. How many times had he smart-mouthed off? I, for one, thought Nico had done pretty well with his comebacks and gave him an approving smile.

I doubt he noticed either of us, though, as even Neville had to shout, "You sure showed him, di Angelo!" just so Nico could hear him over the babble of similar praises from the Gryffindor house.

I looked over at Ron and saw him staring suspiciously at Nico. I wondered what he had against him. After he acted so casual with him at dinner the day before, I was hoping he'd abandon his mistrust and befriend him but apparently not.

"Lesson plans." said Angelina, coming up. She handed us our sheets then moved away.

"Charms first today." said Harry. "And History Of Magic, then I've got Divination."

"Darn!" said Ron. "I've got Herbology first. At least the rest is the same with you."

"Well, that is to be expected since you took the same extra classes." I said. "I've got Charms, History, then Arithmancy."

"Great, I'm in Charms and History and Divination too." said Neville. "What about you, Nico?"

He leaned over and said, "Excellent, same schedule." Nico smiled at him.

I checked my watch and saw that we were almost out of time.

"Come on!" I said, standing up.

Nico quickly shouldered his silver backpack and followed. Ron ruefully split up with us as he headed toward the greenhouse.

Professor Flitwick tried to slow the class down for an awfully long time for Nico's sake, but he soon found that Dumbledore had been right to say he was advanced, Nico was perfect at performing his charms!

We did the flying charm that day. Harry wasn't very good at it, unfortunately. I tried to coach him, but obviously he didn't really listen.

Nico was doing far better. His pillows all fell on the bullseye drawn on the floor in the middle of the room. I was still annoyed to find that Harry at least seemed to listen to him.

"Three flicks, Harry, not four. Yes, it does seem like it's only three times, believe me, I've argued that enough, but you're moving it too much after the third time and— yes! Perfect!" he exclaimed, as Harry's pillow thumped onto the bullseye.

"Did you learn this before?" I asked him as he summoned all the pillows back.

"Yes." he said hesitantly. "My friend taught me."

"At Rivalwings?" I asked. It sounded much more advanced than Hogwarts.

"No, no, just a sort of overdone study group, a camp, you could say." he said quickly. "I'm much too young for Rivalwings." he broke into a wistful smile. "My sister was old enough. She would've loved Rivalwings."

Harry frowned. I wondered if he was offended about Nico patronizing any wizarding school other than Hogwarts, then he looked at Nico and asked, "Did something happen?"

The smile instantly left his face. "Yes." he said bluntly. "She was killed."

Harry looked sympathetic, like he was expecting this, but I was rather taken aback.

Before I could say anything, Professor Flitwick congratulated the class and announced the lesson over, which Nico was ever so happy to embrace as an excuse to leave.

"See you later." said Harry as he left towards History.

"Yeah, see you."


	9. Nyroc Lasky VIII

**Sorry for making you wait, this one took longer to write than I expected. But it's here now.**

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_To Guest: I can't make this Draco/Nico. It's not exactly that I don't like them together but I'm just really bad at writing gay stuff and actually romance in general. This is probably going to end up as Nico/Hermione._

_To Joey Bermuda Ketail: Thanks for reviewing! I'm glad you like it so much! Personally, It think everybody should stop making Ron the odd one out, too!_

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****Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter nor **Percy Jackson &amp; The Olympians******

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—Nyroc Lasky—

The definite problem with Nico being at school is that it makes it so much more tempting to just chuck the cover and go wild with our abilities. A little bit unfair? More like majorly unfair.

The only reason why I'm not quite as frustrated about this as Draco, Alabaster and Luna are, is because my magic truly does suck. Children of Thanatos don't have a very strong magical aura, and being a sorcerer doesn't take you very far. You're only very powerful if you're a sorceress, which seems pretty unfair to me.

Charms is the most annoying class for me, since it's the only thing I'm actually good at. So it's majorly annoying when it comes to the point that I pretend I'm freaking lousy at that.

Besides that, is History Of Magic. I suck at that too but my grades are perfect. That's because Professor Binns knows who I am and is scared of me, even though I never did anything nor cared, but if he's going to just let me cheat, I have no complaints.

When we all walked into History, I was kinda worried that Ron was looking in our direction more often than usual, but after awhile, I decided he probably was just bored. It is Professor Binns teaching, after all.

There's never anything interesting to say about this class. Voldermort could have come in and murdered everyone and our dim-witted ghost of a professor wouldn't notice.

He did call Nico 'sir' a few times, until we took out our weapons and he shut up.

By the way, none of the wizards can see our weapons. They're just mortals. Magical mortals, yes, but still mortals.

But besides that stuff, nothing interesting happened. I accidentally fell asleep behind my book for around half and hour (not that anyone would probably notice, since I was in the back row), and Nico was somehow managing to fall asleep and keep takin notes (probably for Hermione's sake), Harry and Ron started playing exploding snap, and Hermione was obviously taking notes.

I was sorta interested in Divination, however. Even though both Draco and Nate (yeah, I call him Nate instead of Alabaster, didn't know him very well as a demigod anyway and makes things much easier to act out) warned me that there are very few seers left out there and that I'll probably be disappointed.

"What are seers, anyway?" I asked Nico quietly as we followed all our class (Gryffindor and Hufflepuff) up the stairs.

"Something like an Oracle, I guess." he answered with a shrug. "Only more wizardy and more theory, I suppose?"

"I agree with Draco." whispered Luna, no one was supposed to hear us talking. "Sybill Trelawney is a fraud."

"How do you know? He isn't taking Divination either, and we haven't seen her yet." asked Nico, curious as was his original nature.

"Because—" I didn't let her finish, cuz I knew the real reason.

"Luna believes everything Draco says." I told him. "She's totally in love with him."

"No I'm not!" she tried to whisper as loud as she could without anyone hearing her.

Nico looked from her to me and shrugged before climbing up the silver ladder.

Luna looked like she badly wanted to fume for about a millisecond before quickly dropping back into a dreamlike state. I moved back into Neville's head, which is nothing like mine because Neville Longbottom is clumsy, weak, and as very low self-esteem/self-confidence which is something I have a lot of.

Our Divination classroom looked nothing like a classroom, I think it looked sorta like a cross between someone's attic and an old-fashioned tea-shop. There was a fireplace at the corner that made the room seem boiling (granted, I'm used to the freezing atmosphere of the underworld so pretty much everything seems quite warm to me) and there were lots of little circular tables crammed inside along with some armchairs and some things Luna dreamily said were called poufs.

There were also loads of teacups, dusty feathers, candle stubs, crystal balls, and loads of other seer-related mumbo-jumbo lining the walls.

"This looks more like a muggle fortune-teller shop." I heard Nico say to Harry and Hermione.

"Muggles have fortune-tellers?" asked Ron in surprise.

"Yes, but they're pretty much all fakes." Nico reassured him.

Me, still in Neville-land, immediately tripped over somebody's book bag and went sprawling. Gods, it's annoying being Neville.

You're probably going to say, 'But aren't you actually acting as Neville?' C'mon, people, think! Two entire years of pretending to be (in my opinion) the clumsiest person in the world? Obviously, I practice tripping over everything then get used to it so that my act is realistic! Besides, me being Neville is too bizarre for me to comprehend, it's easier to just imagine I've borrowed the kid's body for awhile. I don't really think about how to act when I'm Neville anymore, it's like instinct already.

The second Sybill Trelawney came out all mystical, I agreed with Draco and Luna that she was an absolute fraud.

I mean, she didn't use the crystal ball or anything when she made dramatic gestures and all. I would say wannabe daughter of Aphrodite instead of junior oracle.

The first thing she did was tell us to go get some cups and drink some tea. Then she suddenly swooped down to me and said, "Oh, dear, when you break your first cup, do choose one of the pink ones, then? I'm rather fond of the blue ones."

I know what she's doing! Rachel once pulled this trick on me when I was at camp, only hers was way cooler.

It's a bit like how the mist works, I guess, she assumes I believe her so it's like self-fulfilling prophecy. Add that with how I tripped over and revealed Neville to be a world-class klutz, obviously I broke my cup first, which did happen. It's all about acting and reading body language, really. I seriously considered dropping the act again just to prove what a huge fraud she was, but as Draco says 'sacrifices to be made' and my reputation isn't exactly worth my life.

Wow, did I just think that? A few years ago I wouldn't hesitate to trade my life for my reputation and all, but I guess that's why the gods put me in job in the first place, right? To keep me in line?

Whatever. So, Sybill Trelawney (I am never ever ever in a hundred years going to call her 'Professor') told us to drink the tea. Then she said to swap the cups with a partner and 'use our inner eye to uncover the mysteries of the poor dear's life'.

Nico had to partner me, since Harry was partnering Ron, and I was contemplating dropping my cup and breaking it so that I didn't have to deal with this stupid junk.

If you're gong to ask me if I regret taking this class, I only got in here because Harry was here. Draco isn't here because not only are the Slytherins not in Harry's Divination class, but he expected what was going to happen and refused to sign up. He's taking Arithmancy instead, with Hermione, and Nate is taking Ancient Runes, which I think me and Nico have as well.

I was thinking, this tea leaf reading thing is stupid. I mean, it just looks like a bunch of tea leaves to me.

Nico said, "Um, Neville, did you notice our cups are identical?"

Wow, Nico, brilliant deduction. My cup is pink while your cup if blue, but of course they're identical. I didn't really have to suppress the urge to roll my eyes, even though I was doing it mentally anyway, because Neville doesn't do that kind of thing.

I was like, "Yeah, totally, maybe we're twins separated from birth!" (only I had to say that telepathically too, since Neville isn't supposed to say that kind of stuff).

But I realized that he was actually right, cuz the tea leaves looked like they were in the exact same shape, even though I couldn't really tell since it still looked like just a bunch of leaves to me.

Suddenly, Trelawney came over and was all, "What's this? Two friends so close their destinies intertwine with such passion?" and Lavender and Parvati gasping theatrically in the background.

I'm glad that children of Hades share children of Thanatos' trait of being blunt and sarcastic. Nico still kept his innocent act up and all that but just said, "We've only just met yesterday."

Boom! Act over! Well, not really. All she did was blush a bit and look a bit embarrassed. Sad, though, it would've been nicer since the whole class was watching us.

But she didn't stop there. She picked up my cup and looked in then gasped dramatically like, "Oh this is terrible!" and picked up Nico's with her other hand and looked into it too and said, "Yes, yes, oh you poor dears! Such a dreadful fate!"

Me and Nico exchanged glances, since we couldn't really exchange that 'death kids' look (as Nate calls it) and wondered whether she was going to predict our death like Draco said she was probably going to do to Harry.

He was being all dramatic and pointing at us with a crazily quivering finger and going, "You... you have the Grim."

Then when she didn't get a big reaction like she no doubt wanted, Trelawney practically threw a fit and almost yelling, "The Grim, the Grim! The Great, black, spectral dog that haunts you to your death! You, my poor dears, have it hiding in your souls! You will die, very soon!"

We glanced at each other again then Nico couldn't stand it. He burst out laughing. Obviously I couldn't do it as Neville, so while everyone was staring at Nico like he was crazy, I just hid my face in my hands like I was upset or something so that no one could see me laughing too.

I mean, hello! Nico's the son of the Lord of the Underworld, I'm literally the son of Death. We both live in the Underworld and have skeletons to do our chores for us and talk to dead people on a regular basis. Nico takes Cerberus for walks and gives him baths. The Grim is my pet, literally! Obviously we have death in our souls!

I kept laughing into my hands. Nico was almost rolling on the floor.

Sybill Trelawney was obviously pretty offended, but before she could say anything, Ron saved us all by saying, "Oh! We're going to be late for our next lesson!" which if we are, then that lesson is lunch.

Trelawney blinked and said, "Oh." then, like she needed to get her act on again like us, put on a dreamy like and said in mystical voice like before, "Very well then, go go, we shall exploit our inner eye another day."

I grabbed my bag and ran out, heading to the Room Of Requirement because it was the only safe place where I could really be myself and have a good laugh.

Only, I guess this whole 'reading tea leaves' thing might not be so stupid after all, they actually did get a few facts right.


	10. Ronald Weasley IX

**I'm not going to be able to update for the next few weeks because my exams are coming up so mom will be monitoring my computer use.**

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_To Guest: Thanks! I'm glad you like it!_

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****Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter nor **Percy Jackson &amp; The Olympians******

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—Ronald Weasley—

Okay, Divination is a flop. Professor Trelawney is a fraud.

I believe the whole Grim idea, I really do, seriously. I mean, my uncle Charlie saw it and died less than twenty-four hours later!

I know Neville believed it too. He was seemed so upset about it and didn't even come to lunch with us. I don't blame him. Like I said, I believe it too.

But what I don't believe is that Professor Trelawney actually saw it in the cup. I'm pretty sure that she's just being dramatic.

Plus, if her shop is like muggle places where wannabe seers are, I can't see how it's effective.

Maybe Hermione made the right choice by not taking this class.

I'll admit, I was a bit spooked at first. She was taking it so seriously and all. I saw that she seemed rather surprised when she looked into their cups and maybe even a bit curious.

When Nico burst out laughing then I was a little surprised. Neville was putting his face in his hands and trying not to look at anybody, but then Luna burst out laughing too and was all like, "Oh, that's hilarious! And I supposed the Nargles will swoop down and kiss him goodbye, too!"

That statement was so ridiculous, about as ridiculous as the whole dramatic prophecy Professor Trelawney, so I started laughing too. Lavender and Parvati (you can tell they practically worshipped Professor Trelawney) were staring at us like we were crazy, but they started laughing too. Harry joined it saying something between laughs like, "—seriously—Grim—in a cup—crazy—".

When absolutely everyone was laughing, I figured I couldn't stand anymore of this lesson and yelled (since if I didn't yell I'll just start laughing again), "Oh! We're going to be late for our next lesson!"

So when Hermione sat down beside us at lunch and asked us how was Divination, me and Harry started laughing again.

"What's so funny?" she asked, obviously miffed.

Harry looked to me but I was already chomping down my chicken half because it was good and half to stop my laughter so he sighed and told her.

Hermione snickered. "Oh, that's ridiculous! But now I feel better about missing that class, honestly." then she looked around and said, "Where is Nico then?"

I couldn't help but roll my eyes. Hermione obviously has a crush on Nico, even though he's two years younger than her.

"He went back to the dorm to get something." Harry said. The disappointment was showing evidently on her face.

"Oh." she said. Harry looked at me and I shrugged at him.

After lunch (Nico didn't show up at all, which was odd) we were on our way back up to the dorm when we bumped into Wood.

"Harry! Just the person I wanted to see!" he said.

Harry smiled at him. "Hi Wood. What is it?"

"I just wanted to let you know that Quidditch practices starttomorrow, every Wednesday and Saturday."

"What?" said Hermione. "You're practising already?"

Wood nodded excitedly. "Quidditch matches are starting early this year! Gryffindor against Ravenclaw next Friday!"

"That's awesome!" I yelled.

Hermione looked shocked. "Goodness, that's early!"

Wood grinned. "Harry, I'm hoping to win the Quidditch cup this year, I know I can count on you but don't slack off, okay?"

Harry nodded, looking nervous and excited.

Wood clapped him on the shoulder then left in the way we came.

Hermione still looked a bit appalled as we continued to the common room, then she smiled. "Harry, you'll get to show Nico all about Quidditch!"

I stared at her. "Why would he need to do that?"

Hermione sighed. "Nico doesn't know anything about Quidditch, apparently."

Harry nodded. "I asked him whether he played Quidditch or something in Charms and he just looked at me and said, 'What's Quidditch?'"

I frowned. "How can he not know what Quidditch is?" Nico was nice whenever I was talking to him and stuff but he was still pretty suspicious.

Hermione shrugged. "Who knows? Maybe his camp and parents just didn't say anything about Quidditch. Maybe America isn't that big on it. I'll look it up!" she announced, stopping as we were going past the library. After we just kept walking, she decided to follow us. "After dinner."


	11. Nico di Angelo X

**Finally I've got a moment on my computer to update! I don't want to leave you without an update for too long, but if I don't manage to do this again then I hope this can last you until my exams are over for good!**

**Due to certain responses and the fact that I will admit I am lousy at writing romance stuff, I'm going to try and keep the pairing in this fic to the minimum. Sorry if I disappointed any of you.**

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_To The Son Of Hades123: I have read it, and I agree that it's a great story. The thing is that I'm not fond of what lightningscar twisted the canon into. I know I am twisting the canon a lot too but we all change our stories to be what we want. I do imagine Nico to dislike the camps and all in the same way and be as powerful as well though, and I hope maybe one day I could write something as amazing as that._

_To Guest: So it took me a long time to update with my exams... but thanks so much!_

_To Kerowyn6 and Joey Bermuda triangle: I get the point._

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****Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter nor **Percy Jackson &amp; The Olympians******

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—Nico di Angelo—

Hogwarts is nice.

It has yet to impress me enough to the earn the title 'amazing', 'awesome', 'fun' or even 'weird'. But it really is nice.

Everyone here is so nice. And understand that I, as a child of Hades, is not really used to people being nice to me.

But almost everyone here is nice to me. Okay, I haven't run into any Slytherins yet, but everyone else seems to be. There were these two random sixth-year Gryffindors that warned me where all the trick steps were on my way out the Great Hall, some Hufflepuffs showed me the way to the Gryffindor tower after I got lost again, and there was this Ravenclaw girl named Cho that helped me up when I fell into a trick step on a random staircase.

I am so not used to this.

Nobody is ever this nice to me. Even Hazel is pretty awkward with me because of Bianca, and even more so now that she's got a boyfriend.

The thing is, I can see why Draco, Luna, Nyroc and Alabaster all would rather stay here than be at either of the camps, or in the underworld, or on the run. It's a lot nicer here, even if you've got to wear a disguise all day. It's rather like just being in a house automatically makes you accepted there, and other houses liking you too are a bonus.

So, yes, I really like Hogwarts.

So I don't know why I was so anxious to get up to the dorm and be alone for awhile. It was sort of against the rules, since my job was to protect Harry Potter and therefore be around him at all times.

It wasn't like I could really call Percy either, that would jeopardize the whole mission. He might ask where I am, or ask to speak to Reyna. I couldn't risk him finding out, no matter how much I wanted to see them.

I'm not worried about Hazel, honestly. She's in good hands. Frank, Leo, and Jason would take care of her.

I guess maybe I was homesick? Somehow, being in solitude was more familiar, so I really did need to be alone. If I were to be honest with myself, which I always try to do, I would say that it feels much more comfortable with others at Hogwarts and only slightly awkward when I'm not completely sure how to respond.

Only, my alias, the very shy innocent Nico di Angelo, did know how to respond.

It feels weird pretending to be someone else. Really. On one hand, it's obviously just me acting. On the other hand, it's not me and you get the feel of it after awhile.

Once I reached my dorm, the first thing that caught my eye was the blue scarf that Reyna had handed me seconds before the gods took me away, lying carelessly across my bed. It made me wonder how the war was going.

Knowing them, it would take the seven almost a month to get to Greece. One of the things that annoyed me was how the gods could obviously send people places very easily but they didn't bother to do that with the demigods.

Actually, it was fine by me. Hogwarts was just so much easier and all, nobody would judge me on my parentage or anything. Being around Jason was too nerve-wracking now. Admittedly, it hadn't been that bad when we had started out our mission in Dalmatia, Jason had been a pretty different partner than what I'm used to, but now I'm too worried I'll say something wrong and provoke him into spilling my secret.

Even though I'm pretty close to believing that when he says I can trust him, he means it.

But I'm not quite ready to go that far yet.

After being there for awhile, I decided I really needed to DO something. Then a thought struck me.

Draco had explained to me about where it was but no way was I going to be able to find it alone. Luckily, I only needed one word.

"Seventh floor." I told Lavender, who happily obliged.


	12. Draco Lightbringer XI

**Okay! It's tough finishing these chapters when technically I'm supposed to be studying for my exams... unfortunately I care more about these stories than I do about my exams so here's another chapter for now! (keeping in mind that I'm updating on the sly so don't be too surprised if I disappear for a few days during the actual exams)**

**Oh, and... yeah, I said that there's not going to be any romance in this fic? Technically there isn't but Hermione so obviously likes Nico here. He's not going to go liking her back or anything though!**

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_To MeggieBlack: I try. Since I love reading fanfictions a lot too and feel annoyed with people who abandon their stories for too long._

_To Me: Yes, probably._

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****Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter nor **Percy Jackson &amp; The Olympians******

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—Draco Lightbringer—

The annoying thing about Nico is how he can make me seriously annoyed, unlike Harry. Honestly, it's terribly difficult coming up with snide comebacks and insults if the only things you have to work with are 'mudblood' and 'wait till my father hears about this'. And usually the only things they can come up with are 'snakes', 'git' and 'ferret' so it doesn't irk me off as much.

But the Malcolm comment was a low blow.

Malcolm, as you may know, is another one of my godly half-brothers. He is also Little Miss Perfect Annabeth's favorite sidekick. I am not the typical Child Of Athena (no typical child of Athena would believe in wizards and witches before meeting them) mainly because I liked to challenge Annabeth's decisions a lot.

As I told Nico, I wanted to be like Malcolm for a few years, even though I didn't want to ever since the war started and he did nothing. I totally hate him now.

The fact that I hadn't been acting completely irritated me. I was twenty seconds away from yelling a batch of choice curses at him, which I never really do (except to Annabeth, Malcolm, and a whole bunch of others at camp as well, and Nyroc when I first met him). I can usually keep calm on the inside. That Nico was able to actually annoy me was troubling.

I decided to head to The Room Of Requirement. That was our usual meeting place. It used to be Myrtle's bathroom until The Chamber Of Secrets was reopened.

The Slytherins didn't notice me leaving (everyone hates Malfoy) and I told Crabbe and Goyle, my mistforms, to go do something useless. I didn't think that many other people knew about the Room Of Requirement and I wanted to keep it that way.

'I need the Potter Band meeting room' I said in my head as I paced up and down. It would've changed by now, Nico would be allowed to come in too.

Luna was already there when I got there, and Nyroc was still laughing his head off about something that happened in Divination.

"Alabaster's on his way." I said to Luna, holding up the gold coin that we used to communicate. It had words on the sides instead of numbers and grew hot whenever a new message appeared.

"Good." said Luna. "And Nico?"

"No idea." I said. "But I have a feeling he'll make it."

That moment, the door opened and Alabaster stepped in.

"Hey guys." He said. "What's up with Nyroc?"

Luna grinned. "Sybill Trelawney was going on about him and Nico having death in their souls and stuff."

We both stared at her, then started laughing. It felt good to act like myself again.

"Hilarious." said Nico, as he closed the door.

"Nico!" said Luna "When did you get here?"

"Few seconds ago." he said.

"How?" asked Alabaster. "I got completely lost the first time."

"Lavender was ever so eager to take me to the seventh floor." he answered with a smirk.

Nyroc and Alabaster rolled their eyes.

"Is there a reason we're here?" asked Luna impatiently.

"Yes." I said. "How do you like Hogwarts, Nico?"

I watched him look away from me for awhile, doing what we all do when we're around each other; contemplating whether we could tell each other the truth.

"It's weird." he decided. "But not in that way. Everyone here is so nice. I mean, not that I don't like it, exactly, but..."

"I know just what you mean." Nyroc agreed. "It still feels weird to talk to people."

"You'll get used to it after awhile." said Luna. "But do you like it?"

Nico shrugged, getting a little more comfortable with our company. "I think so. Sorta. Like I said, it's weird but... it's nice."

I nodded to him. "We all feel like that."

Nico stared at me. I guess I could see his reasoning. He was coming in all social, Luna and Nyroc were relatively slightly-lower-than-average social status. Alabaster... probably anything was an improvement from being on the run.

But me? How could being hated be an improvement?

It's nice to let my Athena-attitude side come out. Even better to be able to release my emotions without caring about my reputation. It was fun to be mean to people without having to care that you're hurting their feelings since you're doing this for their own good. I suppose that makes me a terrible person, but I'm pretty sure that's how all my siblings would think. If they cared.

I didn't answer Nico, since technically he didn't say anything to me.

Instead.

"Good job today, 'The Angel'" I said sarcastically. "'The Ferret' got pretty pissed off."

He raised an eyebrow and grinned at me. "It was fun to yell at you." he admitted. "Even if I didn't exactly want to in the first place."

"I liked that." Nyroc said, shooting me a look. "Especially after you sent me that stupid valentine as a joke last year."

"Yeesh, it was a joke!" I groaned.

"Lay off him." said Luna. "We all have to act. Nico didn't really mean the things he said to Draco and Draco never meant any of the stuff he did to us."

"We know that." said Alabaster. "And to tell you the truth, this conversation isn't nearly as interesting as it was originally. How was Divination? Besides the whole 'death in your souls' stuff."

"Well, you were right about it, Draco." said Luna, looking to me. "Sybill Trelawney is an absolute fraud."

"Told you." I said to Nyroc, who undoubtedly hadn't believed me.

"Yeah, yeah." he said. "I agree." he didn't look very convinced.

"How was Ancient Runes, Nate?" asked Luna, looking to Alabaster. Merlin, the way he's called two names at the same time is so confusing.

"Fine." he said, grinning. "Obviously."

"No fair." I argued. "You've dealt with runes for practically your whole life, you wouldn't even need to study to get top marks!"

"As if you're one to talk." he shot back, laughing. "Since you get top marks in everything."

I'm supposed to fail my exams as much as I can but there's only so far that acting can take you.

"It's supposed to be a Child Of Athena thing." I told them what I've said before. "Then why is it that practically no other Child Of Athena has ever managed to get an 'A'? Or in this case, an 'O'?"

Nico looked confused again. "'O'?"

Luna began to count off her fingers. "The wizardry grades are 'Outstanding', 'Exceeds Expectations', 'Acceptable', 'Poor', 'Dreadful', and 'Troll'"

Nyroc laughed. "I sense more than one 'Troll' coming my way in our OWLS."

"Ordinary Wizarding Levels?" asked Nico cautiously. We didn't acknowledge that, which was a signal for yes.

Alabaster groaned. "I wish I wasn't in Ravenclaw, then I could just slack off instead of having to study for higher grades."

"Tough luck." I said.

"That reminds me, why weren't you put in Ravenclaw in the first place, Draco?" Nico asked. "I would've thought you were, what with the whole Child Of Athena thing and all that stuff."

"Okay, first of all, grammar check." I said, wrinkling my nose. Luna and Nyroc laughed. "And to answer your question, I didn't want to be in Ravenclaw, just feeling rebellious against anything that tied me to the demigod world back then."

This is one of the many reasons why I decided to completely immerse myself in the wizarding world from young.

"By the way, what's Quidditch?" Nico asked.

I slapped my forehead, Luna gasped, Nyroc and Alabaster groaned.

"I can't believe we forgot that!" Nyroc groaned.

"That, Nico, is THE best sport in the WORLD." said Luna.

"It makes all the other sports look downright LAME." said Alabaster.

"EVERYONE knows it." said Nyroc.

"Every WIZARD." I corrected. "Since it can only be played with flying brooms and magic balls."

Nico looked like he was halfway between excited and frightened. "So... you have to fly to play?"

I sighed. "You're allowed to fly, remember? The gods blessed you and gave you free clearance."

"I know, it's just... I still have a hard time getting used to that."

"I know." said Nyroc. "It still makes me kind of jumpy."

"I can't wrap my mind around that." said Luna. "That seems too generous of the gods."

Me and Alabaster exchanged a look. The gods weren't doing this stuff because they were generous, they were doing it to keep us in line. I had been one step away from joining the Titans and Alabaster had actually gone ahead and did it, Luna had been causing trouble back in Camp Jupiter, and Nyroc was raised alone in the Underworld and was pretty loyal to Thanatos and Hades.

This quest was partly to distract us, partly to bribe us, to keep us from being trouble and making sure we listened to them. Nico was here because we needed a fifth person and pretty much refused anyone else that was suggested.

"We should get Harry to show you how to play." said Nyroc. "I don't play because I'm terrible at it but you shouldn't miss out."

"Why Harry?" asked Luna. "Why not us?"

"Well, I obviously can't be seen acting too friendly with all of you." said Nico. "That'll be too complicated."

"Right." said Nyroc. "I'm sure HERMIONE will be ever so glad to help you out with that."

Nico blushed a bit and it took me a few seconds to figure out Nyroc's comment.

"Does Hermione like Nico?" asked Alabaster in surprise.

Nico blushed even further before suddenly exclaiming, "Oh shit! I told Ron and Harry I just went to get something from the dorm, they'll be looking for me!"

Luna looked at him incredulously. "You told them that before lunch? That means you've apparently spent, what, three hours to 'get something from the dorm'? Are you serious?"

"I know! I know!" he said. Already halfway out the door. "I need to go!"

"Say hi to your girlfriend for me!" called Nyroc with a laugh.

I rolled my eyes as I reached for the knob.

Seriously.


	13. Harry Potter XII

**I can't believe I'm sneaking online to write something today!**

**Alright, because my evil enemies have hereby allied (writer's block and exam timetables), this chapter is far too short. But I needed this link in order to get to the next chapter. I might one day come back and make it better, but for now, it's gonna stay like this. I don't really have any better ideas yet anyway.**

**Plus, I really wanted to reply to all my reviews! Thanks for giving me so many guys!  
**

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_To She-wolf Shadow: ;D_

_To Live4Fanfics: Sorry to disappoint you, but Nico is probably not going to pair up with anyone. Draco and Luna might, though._

_To __KittyKat: I know that I should be doing that but when I need to write, I need to write. Can't concentrate when I do anyway._

_To Grimm Demon: So first of all, I really don't think Nico and Hermione will be together anymore (Hermione just has a crush on __him because he seems smart and polite). I'll take your idea into consideration, but I'm just going with the flow for this. But I'm glad you like how it's gone so far!_

_To Nico Di Angelo: Really, I don't know if you're being serious or sarcastic about this._

_To callmealiar: Thanks! I will keep writing!_

_To Elayia: Yes, I know. No, not Luna. She's __taken._

_To 1390931390931 and 130909: Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?_

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****Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter nor **Percy Jackson &amp; The Olympians******

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—Harry Potter—

Nico wasn't there when we returned to the dorm. Ron and I ended up playing wizard chess several times.

"Can I play the winner?"

The three of us jumped. Hermione had been so immersed in her book and Ron and I were focused on the match. I noticed that Nico was now leaning over and watching us.

"Nico, when did you get here?" asked Ron suspiciously.

"Just now." he answered, cheeks flushed.

"You took an awfully long time to get back to the dorm. Three hours in fact."

Nico went even more red and sat down on the couch next to me. "I didn't think it was even possible to take that long. I got absolutely lost, suppose it's a good thing we don't have Geography in Hogwarts. This happens to me all the time."

I laughed, as did Dean sitting near the fireplace. Ron looked confused and Hermione gave me a disapproving glance.

Ron shrugged. He stared back at the board and prodded me on the shoulder. "Your turn."

"Huh? What? Oh." I looked again and decided to move my Bishop to A5.

"Queen E2, Check-&amp;-Mate." Ron announced, and the little white pieces cheered. I sighed, but am already used to being beaten by Ron.

"Your turn." he said to Nico challengingly.

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**Yeah, it's too short. I was supposed to write some sort of discussion when they found out Nico wasn't there, but I really couldn't think of anything at this moment and I really want to get round to writing the next chapter. Will come back and edit this someday.**

**I was wondering if I should make Remus the Defense Against Dark Arts Teacher, what do you think?**


	14. Nico di Angelo XIII

**So, I'm sorry I abandoned you guys for awhile but this was the week of my exams and my mom wouldn't let me out of her sight. In a way, that's a good thing for me. I'm back now, at least, and I'll be updating frequently again!**

**This chapter is mostly Nico and Nyroc's thoughts on the war. I might do a Percy chapter next. What do you think?**

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_To She-wolf Shadow: Yeah, I thought so too. I'll probably do it, even if the story will be more Prisoner Of Azkaban if that happens._

_To Saryana Greenwood: I'm so happy that you like this story! Yes, I've been thinking that Remus really should be the Defense Against Dark Arts Teacher. Why Nyroc/Neville is good at Herbology will be explained later._

_To H.N. Dots (I put in a space because fanfiction wouldn't allow me to write your original name): Remus is totally one of my favourite characters. Yes, it will probably happen. Especially since everyone seems to agree._

_To Kpopbaby: I know! I'm sorry and I'm doing it now!_

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****Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter nor **Percy Jackson &amp; The Olympians******

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—Nico di Angelo—

I sat down. As the pieces moved back to their proper position, it occurred to me that this may not have been the best idea.

It sounds ridiculous, I know. How could somethings so simple as playing wizard chess jeopardize our mission? If Draco were here, he would probably tell me that Ron would get suspicious if I played to well or something along those lines.

Ron made the first move. I had to make a decision to try to win or to lose on purpose or such. As it was, I decided to just try my best anyway (it wasn't like I'm particularly good at wizard chess, we demigods are more into improvising) since who's to say someone can't simply be good at chess if I do win?

I made my move. Ron fired his back just as quick. I put forth another unexpected choice, just as a decoy. Ron put one of his forward without comment.

My the time curfew came round and Percy Weasley came to tell us to go to bed, I had won two games and Ronald had beat me seven times. Suppose he really is as strategistic as they say.

It was a restless night for me, I had the strangest dream where Jason and Percy were running around the Argo II screaming my name for who knows why, then Coach Hedge ran in holding a tray of cupcakes and yelling that we'll all be late for the baseball game, Frank was trying to stop Leo from drowning himself, and Hazel was wearing a princess costume, and I was watching from the top of the mast wondering what the heck was going on.

After waking myself up and making sure everything was normal in reality, I decided to go get myself a cup of water.

Slowly, as to not wake the others, I leaned over and reached for my wand. The room was oddly silent, which is what I like about the night, especially since you could never quite find a quiet night in the demigod world. If it wasn't monsters or snoring teenagers, it was calm before the storm.

"Aguamenti." I whispered, filling my cup with water. Nyroc suddenly jerked awake.

"Sorry!" I said, alarmed that I had woken him. "It's only me!"

Nyroc lowered his wand, which I hadn't noticed he'd been holding. "Oh, Nico."

I tilted my head. It was usually quite hard to hear me at night, I tried my best to stay silent and I was sure that I hadn't whispered as loud.

Nyroc rubbed his eyes. "Don't worry, any slightest sound wakes me, it comes in handy when there are monsters attempting to get to Harry."

"Oh." I said, flushing. It was ridiculous to feel bad about it, actually.

Nyroc smiled. "I'm surprised Harry didn't wake me instead, he's usually trashing around all night."

I blinked. "Really?"

"Yeah." said Nyroc with a frown. "Most of his dreams aren't exactly demigod-like dreams, mind, but Luna says they're almost as bad."

"Which is saying a lot." I commented looking down at the boy. Poor Harry, it really wasn't fair for him to have to go through all this. The wizarding world took things a lot more seriously, it really made me have less and less respect for the gods and the way they did things.

I don't know how long we were sitting there, thinking about the war and simply relishing in the wonderful nighttime silence all children of the underworld love before Nyroc spoke up.

"How's things back in the demigod world?"

I stared. "Pardon?"

He looked a bit uncomfortable with this topic. "How's the war? I mean, we haven't really had any proper news since Alabaster showed up and told us the gods won The Second Titan War, but I heard something else happened while we were on break?"

It was odd. While our side was worried about the war —both the one with the giants and Gaia and the one between the camps— the demigods hiding in the wizarding world were completely isolated from all this.

"There's another war." I mumbled. I didn't particularly like this topic either. "Another prophecy. Again it makes it sound like we're all doomed."

"Any side prophecies?" he ventured. None of us particularly like to think about the Great Prophecies, they're always so misleading anyway.

"Three so far." I said. "The one Jason had—

Child of Lightning, beware the earth,  
The giants' revenge the seven shall birth,  
The forge and dove shall break the cage,  
And death unleash through Hera's rage."

"Hera's rage." he muttered. "I can imagine. That prophecy seems pretty straightforward."

"Yeah." I agreed. That was exactly what happened anyway. "And then Mars —Ares— gave them this ridiculous one because he was too lazy and brainless to do any better—

Go to Alaska,  
Find Thanatos and free him,  
Come back by sundown on June twenty-fourth or die."

Despite the ridiculousness of that prophecy, Nyroc's smile was rather weak. He had been awfully worried those few weeks when his father went missing.

"There's one more." Nyroc said confusedly when I didn't say anything else.

I didn't like to think about that prophecy, because it made it hard for me to pretend Tartarus was just a dream, which I liked to do.

"It's... yeah... it's Annabeth's... no idea where she got it from actually... might have been from Ella (the book-loving harpy) or something..."

Nyroc looked a little impatient. I tried to remember the prophecy even though I didn't really want to.

"Well it's...

Wisdom's daughter walks alone,  
The Mark Of Athena burns through Rome,  
Twins snuff out the... the Angel's breath,  
Who holds the key to endless death,  
The giants' bane stands gold and pale,  
Won through pain from a woven jail."

Neither of us spoke for awhile.

One reason I hated that reminder so much was because I kept thinking about how Percy and Jason had been forced to come and rescue me, and led to Percy and Annabeth falling into Taratarus.

"You don't have to be ashamed." said Nyroc, as if reading my mind, which he sometimes claimed he could. "You had just gone through Tartarus, anyone would've been scared."

He sounded too much like Jason when he said stuff like that. It was soothing, but anyone was easier to handle when they were more relaxed and nonchalant. I'm still not sure how I feel about them getting to know me so well, it makes me feel vulnerable after all these years of putting up a shield.

He seemed to read my mind again. "You can trust us, ya know?"

Nyroc got up and pulled the covers back over me. "Get some sleep. Harry's bringing you to Quidditch practice tomorrow."

Oh no. What on earth am I supposed to say to Harry when he finds out I can't even fly?


	15. Percy Jackson XIV

**Yes! I told you I'm back to updating frequently! **

**So, I did a Percy chapter. Unfortunately, this story is mainly centered around Hogwarts, so there won't be a big demigod thing yet. It's only been one day of classes after all. Hope you still enjoy it though!**

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_To H.N. Dots: I generally appreciate all reviews, but you people that write nice stuff like that always make me so happy!_

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****Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter nor **Percy Jackson &amp; The Olympians******

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—Percy Jackson—

I should feel guilty about going to sleep and letting the others deal with anything that happens during their watch. I'm not.

I so needed a break. We've been attacked left right and center all day under my watch, it had to be Jason's turn now, I was far too tired! Okay, Jason shared, like, half of the attacks with me, but I was up half the night on night shift too. Besides, Piper and Leo were there with him (not the ideal dream team though) and they hadn't done a thing all day! Oh, wait Leo was driving the ship. Right. We're getting off topic.

For us demigods, we've got to take our sleep however way it comes to us. I trudged into my room and collapsed onto the floor since I couldn't reach my bed.

Sleep was like paradise. And strangely, my dream sorta seemed like paradise for awhile too. Weird.

I was standing in a field. The sky was blue and beautiful. There were wispy clouds floating around in the sky. A breeze was blowing lightly.

I turned around slowly, this seemed too peaceful to be a dream. It was actually so nice that it was scary. It was like, as Nico once said, 'The calm before the storm'.

Then I saw a boy standing a few feet away and thought, 'Woah! This kid looks just like me!'

He did, you know. He had really messy black hair (like mine, sadly), and green eyes (even though his were way brighter). The boy only looked about thirteen, though. He rubbed his eyes and put on a pair of old-style rounded glasses.

We stared at each other for what seemed like forever.

"Blimey." he said after awhile. "You look just like me."

"I know!" I blurted out. "Who are you? Who are your parents?"

He looked at me strangely, as if I had just asked him if he was a human or something ridiculous like that.

"I'm Harry Potter." he said eventually. "Are you a wizard?"

I blinked. What? Did he just say a wizard?

"Of course not." I answered incredulously.

"Really?" he said, looking surprised. "Because I am. I don't suppose it will matter much if I'm telling you this in a dream anyway, but I'm a wizard."

This kid was mental. Crazy.

"I'm Percy Jackson." I said without thinking. "And I'm definitely not a wizard. Wizards don't exist."

He looked a bit thoughtful and confused, then it struck me. Maybe this kid was a demigod, a child of Hecate or something, that somehow managed to convince himself he was a wizard from a fairytale book of his.

"Who are your parents?" I asked him again.

"Lily and James Potter." he answered slowly. "If you're a wizard then you would know them, and I'm still not convinced you aren't, by the way."

I felt a bit frustrated. This kid really was stubborn.

"You're not a wizard." I said through clenched teeth. "You're—"

"Oh, I'm definitely a wizard." he said, looking offended. "And if I had my wand with me, I could prove it to you—"

Holy Poseidon, this guy went as far as to make a WAND?

"You're not a wizard!" I nearly yelled. "Because wizards don't exist!"

"They do too!" he yelled with a murderous glint in his eyes. "I am a wizard! I can do magic—"

I lost it. "It's not called magic!"

"I don't care what's not call magic! There's a sea serpent attacking and we can't deal with it nearly as well as you can!"

I blinked and saw Frank leaning over me.

"C'mon! Let's go!" he yelled.

I grabbed Riptide and ran after him.

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**I'm sorry, no you are not going to see what happens during or after this fight with the sea serpent. What matters is that they obviously won.**


	16. Ronald Weasley XV

**This must be the quickest I've written a new chapter yet! To all the people that like to read my stories!**

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_To Michelle: Thanks! Don't worry, I'm updating!_

_To H.N. Dots: I know, but I think demigods' reactions to magic will be the same as ours. Demigod stuff is 'logical' and magic isn't, apparently._

_Joey Bermuda Ketail: Okay! I'm doing it now aren't I!_

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****Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter nor **Percy Jackson &amp; The Olympians******

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—Ron Weasley—

Harry was up to something.

When we woke us up the next morning, Harry had this thoughtful look on his face that usually meant trouble.

He didn't say anything until we got down to the great hall.

"Good morning." said Nico in a tone that suggested it was not a good morning.

"Good morning." said Harry.

"You look like you were up late." I commented.

Nico shrugged. "Had a really weird dream."

Harry nodded. "I had one too. There was this kid that just kept yelling at me that wizards didn't exist."

Hermione raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

Harry nodded. "Yeah. First I saw this boy that sorta looked like me —messy black hair and green eyes— well he was sixteen too I think. Anyway, I was wondering whether I was seeing things then I remembered that it was only a dream, right?"

"Go on." said Nico.

"Right. So I told him I was Harry Potter —he had no reaction— and I asked him if he was a wizard. He said he wasn't but I'm pretty sure he was. He had this look that made him look like a fighter."

I frowned. "How would you know?"

Harry shrugged. "Instinct?" he suggested. "Well, he kept asking me who my parents were, I told him that they were Lily and James Potter and that I was a wizard, oh, he told me his name was 'Percy Jackson.'"

Nico seemed a bit taken aback at this.

"Then he said wizards don't exist, I said they did, he said I wasn't a wizard, I said I was, he said wizards don't exist again, I said I could do magic, then he suddenly yelled 'It's not called magic!'. Then I woke up. Quite suddenly."

I looked at him. "Strange dream." I decided. "What's our schedule for today?"

We all pulled out our schedules.

"Potions." Harry groaned. "AND History Of Magic. Both in one day!"

"Charms first." I said. "Pity. Isn't it amazing that we're always all in History Of Magic together, though?"

"You've got that right." said Hermione. "I've got Herbology first. What do you have, Nico?"

She leaned over his shoulder and seemed disappointed, so I guess Nico didn't get into the same class as her.

"Potions then History." said Nico. I rest my case. "Is Potions really bad?"

"Professor Snape is really biased." Harry said with a scowl. "He hates all Gryffindors, especially me."

"Yippee." Nico said sarcastically.

"It's not fair that you don't have to do Potions!" Harry said to me and Hermione.

I shrugged. "I'm not getting out of it, mine is on Thursday." I added, checking my schedule.

Hermione sighed. "I wish we had a better teacher than Snape, Potions is a really important class."

I stared at the half-eaten donut on Nico's plate, suddenly distracted. "That's all you're eating for breakfast? Seriously? You're starving yourself! No wonder you're so thin!"

The next few minutes were taken up by me, Harry and Hermione half-forcing him to eat more and stop starving himself while he tried to protest that he didn't need to.

Finally Hermione checked her watch again and decided we should all go to class.


	17. Draco Lightbringer XVI

**This chapter's a bit out of place, but I need it. Hope it's still okay!**

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_To loavableU: Aw, thanks!_

_To H.N. Dots: Hee hee, didn't think of it that way. It fits._

_To Joey Bermuda Ketail: I know! I know!_

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****Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter nor **Percy Jackson &amp; The Olympians******

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—Draco Lightbringer—

Before we went in, I quickly pulled Nico aside when Harry wasn't looking.

"Okay, Nico, listen." I said. "In Potions class, I'm going to be mean to the Gryffindors just like any other time because that's what my cover is, okay?" He nodded. "Part of your job is to protect Harry so for today you need to make sure he's safe through the whole plan, alright?"

Nico stared at me. "What plan."

I resisted the urge to slap my forehead. "Shoot! I knew there was something I forgot! Listen, Nico, there's this special potion Nyroc and Luna need to take to maintain their magical abilities, which are already pretty weak as it is. Nyroc's going to explode his class potion today so that he can go search Snape's office for the ingredients."

He nodded slowly. "I guess that makes sense. Is that all?"

I sighed. "No. I'm going to manipulate Snape into getting you to send Nyroc to the hospital wing when he explodes it. Would do it myself but that would just be too suspicious."

"Wouldn't Nyroc get hurt?" asked Nico. "And what about whoever his partner is?"

The thing about Nico is that he really does care about everyone he comes across. He just can't show it or he'll be too vulnerable. That is what we like about him.

"If Nyroc mixes the potion right, his partner should be fine." I assured him. "And if he doesn't, just bring him to the hospital wing and don't let Madam Pomfrey see Nyroc. I'll manipulate him into not remembering Nyroc was supposed to be with you. And give this to Nyroc once you're out of sight." I passed him a thermos flask from my bag. "Nectar."

Nico nodded. "Okay. Wait, why do I need to go with him anyway?"

I sighed. He can be so clueless sometimes. "Because Snape has to call someone out to bring him to the hospital wing, and you're the only other person! Not like you'll actually be going to the hospital unless his partner gets hurt, but still!"

"Oh." Nico looked a bit sheepish.

Time was running out. Snape would be nearing class it about twenty-five seconds. "One more thing, since I don't expect Nyroc to take this seriously. Make sure there's no trace of you being there. Snape's a legacy of Nemesis, he gets suspicious easily and jumps to conclusions a lot—"

"Snape's a legacy of Nemesis?" asked Nico, eyes widening.

"Yeah." I said, staring at my watch. "All pureblood families are descendants of at least one god. That's why they thought they were so much better in the old days, before they were blinded from us as most mortals are. I'm sorry but I'll have to explain this later."

I grabbed his collar and shoved him around the corner before rushing out myself.

Not with him, of course, we couldn't be seen together.

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**The thing about purebloods being descendants of the gods will be explained later.**


	18. Harry Potter XVII

**This story has a mix of different ideas from all the books. Some instructions from the Half-Blood Prince's potions book are present, as well as obviously The Prisoner Of Azkaban, and other stuff.**

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_To Genevieve: Glad you like that idea, it just came to me. No spoilers though!_

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****Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter nor **Percy Jackson &amp; The Olympians******

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—Harry Potter—

Ugh. I hate Potions class.

Some time before Snape showed up, Nico disappeared. I wasn't quite sure about him at this point. He seemed like a nice kid and everything, but like Ron said, something was off about him.

Suddenly, he slammed right into me.

"I'm here!" he said, panting as if he'd just run a long way and holding his head where he had undoubtedly bumped onto my shoulder (yeah, he is that small).

"Where did you go?" I whispered to him as we filed into the classroom.

"Left my Potions book in the dorm!" he said. "So idiotic of me! And now my head hurts!"

I resisted the urge to laugh. He looked really innocent at this point, pouting and rubbing his head.

"Potter, would you like to tell us what's so funny?"

Snape was standing next to my desk. I must have laughed out loud.

Nico raised his hand. Snape raised an eyebrow and looked over. I wanted to bang my head on the desk. This he not see the danger in approaching him now?!

"What?" he snapped. Then Snape frowned. "Who are you? You're not in this year, get out of my class!"

Malfoy and couple of his Slytherins snickered into their hands. Bastards.

"I'm afraid I'm not sure what you mean, sir." said Nico. Sir? "And I'm not particularly sure who you are either, I'm new here, see? I haven't managed to find out your name yet."

Snape scowled even deeper. "Nico di Angelo, the 'little genius.'"

"I don't think so?" said Nico, frowning in confusion.

"Well, I'm Professor Snape, mind you pay attention and keep up! We're not lagging behind just because some first-year is having petty trouble! Potter!" I almost jumped at my name. "You partner di Angelo and try not to corrupt him with your terrible potion-making skills!"

Malfoy snickered again. I felt angry at all three of them. No, two of them. It wasn't Nico's fault.

Snape scratched the instructions for the Draught of Living Death on the blackboard and told them all to get into pairs.

"This is a very difficult potion," he said, "But you should at least be able to avoid melting cauldrons today!"

"Sorry." said Nico, as we were working. "I didn't mean for Snape to go at you like that, I was trying to distract him before."

I shrugged. "It's no worry, Snape always does that."

He frowned, but went back to getting the juice out of his sopophorus bean.

"Blimey, how did you get so much?" I gasped, seeing how he had loads compared to my few drops.

He looked over to me. "Oh, ah, just press the beans with the flat of a knife instead. It works much better."

I stared at him, that wasn't what it said in our books, but shrugged and tried it.

I was amazed at how much juice came out.

"Where did you learn that?" I asked him.

"A friend told me." he said simply.

I wanted to ask him more but at that moment there was a yell and a potion exploded.

Dean was at the other end of the classroom, hurriedly shaking drops of bluey-green liquid off his clothes. Neville was next to his cauldron drenched in the stuff and his skin was covered in painful-looking reddish boils. He looked terribly hurt.

"Again, Longbottom?" Snape snarled.

I had to admit, it was amazing that Neville managed to fudge up his potion every single time we had class.

Neville whimpered a little and Malfoy sniggered with his cronies. Snape snorted.

"di Angelo!" he said, pointing to said person. "Take Longbottom to the infirmary and don't hurry back!"

Nico jumped up and helped Neville out the door looking distraught and worried. Probably he hadn't had such a class where dangerous potions like these were made before. I almost envied him for that.

"What are you all staring at?" asked Snape and everyone jumped. "Get back to work!"

I looked down at Nico's book and a hastily scribbled line caught my eye.


	19. Nyroc Lasky XVIII

**Hi! Okay, my chapters are getting shorter, I think. I'm trying, really, but I'm still not exactly experienced with this whole fanfic-writing thing so please give me a break if it doesn't turn out well up to your standards!**

**It may be some time before I update again, unfortunately. My computer's charger got busted, and it's annoying trying to upload these from my iPad. Don't worry, I'm not abandoning it.**

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_To H.N. Dots: Have I ever mentioned how much I love your reviews?_

_To The Son Of Hades123: Omigosh! I noticed that too! And I feel awful about it, really. Trying my best to extend my chapter longer though, trying!_

_To Guest: ;)_

_Nico and Guest: As I said before, I'm probably not going to be pairing Nico with anyone. Some crushes as stuff maybe but to actual get-together thing._

_To Aphrodite child: Yes! I am! Sorry for taking so long!_

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****Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter nor **Percy Jackson &amp; The Olympians******

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—Nyroc Lasky—

We were careful not to let anyone see us, and quickly ducked into and empty DADA classroom. Nico looked really worried and the boils all over my body were starting to itch. They don't hurt, at least compared to all the other potions I 'accidentally' spilled on myself all the other times.

When we had safely closed the door behind us, Nico handed me the flask of nectar, which I gulped down gratefully. The thing about not drinking too much had pretty much been thrown out the window.

"Are you okay?" he asked me once I was done. I checked my arms. No boils.

"I'm fine." I assured him. "They don't actually hurt, anyway."

Nico looked relieved. "I thought you were really hurt! I wasn't really sure whether it was just acting."

I gave him a weird look. "I thought Draco told you about what we were doing?"

He nodded. "Yeah, but it was sort of a last minute thing, so I wasn't sure exactly what you did. Considering all the stuff that Alabaster told me happened in first and second year..."

"Alabaster told you stuff?" I asked, shocked.

Nico gave me a funny look. "Yeah. He briefed me on the stuff that happened in first and second year since, well, he just wanted to."

I shook my head. "Don't tell Draco or Alabaster might get in trouble. Or maybe not since he's so much older. But still, Draco chews us out pretty harsh when we mess things up."

"How is telling me this stuff 'messing things up'?"

"I dunno. But if Draco didn't tell you, he must have a reason. Maybe he's afraid that you'll let somethings slip when you shouldn't know these things, being a student and all." Draco confuses me with his tactics all the time. The problem is that he usually only tells me the bits I need to know, and doesn't tell me the full plan most of the time. I know he's afraid I'll mess up but I'll bet he's messed up before himself and just covered it up by spontaneously changing the plan.

Nico looked just as confused right then, but I quickly decided that we should go on. The two of us headed to Snape's office and quickly began looking through his stores.

"We need vinewood, bezoerpowder, twinecorn, aconitemilk, and bobbleberries." I recited. We used to have a list but after two years of going through the same routine all four of us had memorized it.

I reached up to push aside a row of rather dusty jars when Nico grabbed my hand.

"Wait! You'll leaves fingerprints all over the dust!" he said. Then he took out his wand and went, "Wingardium-laviosa!"

The jars jumped up and I grabbed a small bottle of aconitemilk. Then I replaced it with one of the bottles that I had snuck out from Potions class.

"What's that?" Nico asked, confused, as all the other jars flew back into place without even dropping their dust.

"Just birdleaves." I answered, looking for the others. Snape was always rearranging his stuff, it was so annoying. "It's a secondary ingredient we use in class. If I didn't put that there, Snape would notice the empty space." I grabbed a long-necked bottle filled with murky stuff. "Vinewood. I always thought they'd miss-named it. It doesn't look a bit like wood."

Nico shrugged. "It's probably made from vinewood, in the only form possible if you wanted to use it to make a potion."

I laughed. "No wonder Hermione likes you so. You're such a smarty-pants even when you're not trying."

He blushed. "I'm only eleven! Oh, look, is that twinecorn?"

Nice change of subject. I looked over to where he was pointing. "No, that's cottoncorn."

He looked miffed. "Cottoncorn? Can't these people be more original?"

I shrugged. "Bobbleberries." I caught sight of a small container of dark purple lumps in a container on Snape's desk. Oh no. Bobbleberries were supposedly rare, so it Draco always worried that Snape would notice them gone. Well he probably would now.

I reached into my pocket and took out the sanctuary for desperate measures. Raisins.

Nico stared. "We're going to replace the bobbleberries with raisins?"

I shrugged. "They look about the same. Look here, I'll just swap the containers and no one would be the wiser. Don't touch the bobbleberries, Nico! They're sorta corrosive to skin."

Nico gingerly scraped the berries into the opposite container using a pencil then used 'scourgify' to clean it.

"There's some bezoerpowder here." I grabbed a jar filled with blueish-brownish-greenish powder and replaced it with a third bottle.

"Now we just need twinecorn." Nico mumbled. "But Nyroc, wouldn't Snape have trouble making any potions using raisins when he thinks he's actually using bobbleberries?"

"Raisins are neutral in potion-making. They'll neutralize any potion they go into, even though they have the same visual effects as any berry (or grape), so Snape wouldn't really know until he figures that the potion isn't working."

Neville is supposed to be terrible at potions, but honestly I'm only half-bad. That reputation came along mostly because I explode most of my potions and because Neville is super clumsy.

"Found the twinecorn." said Nico. I swapped it for a jar of beetle eyes and started to get the heck out of that room.

Nico slowed me down by doing a security check around the room first and we went out.

"We've got how much longer until class ends again?" I asked.

All the classroom doors simultaneously opened, making a series of thumps go through the castle.

"Now." he shrugged. "I'm not particularly in a hurry to get to History. It's like you said, I'll be getting good grades in that no matter what. Besides, Hermione isn't going to care since I was supposedly helping you in the hospital wing."

I snorted. He was so blind. "Don't worry, nothing's going to come between you and Hermione."

He flushed again. "I repeat, I'm eleven." he mumbled. "Besides, she doesn't like the real me. Only the half-real me."

"That's right." I laughed. I quickly stopped when we came across some other students since Neville isn't the kind of person who laughs at evil stuff like that. As soon as they passed, I whispered to him, "So, whad'ya say we ditch this class?"

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**All mentioned ingredients are almost completely made up.**


	20. Hermione Granger XIX

**Yes! I finally got my charger fixed! Loads of stuff to reply to since I haven't updated for so long, first.**

**Okay, there's a really choppy bit in this chapter that probably would've been better in a demigod's point of view, but I felt that the rest of the chapter belonged to Hermione. Hopefully it's not that bad.**

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_To H.N. Dots: Aconite is poison? Really? Wow, I didn't know that. Like I said, I was randomly making them up. But yes, let's just assume they are using poison in this potion._

_To Aphrodite child: Exactly. I'm glad you understand why it took me so much longer this tme._

_To Percy Cahill: Um, okay, this is weird. Do you know that most people review after reading up to the latest? You reviewed at pretty much every chapter. And all on the same day. But okay, I'll answer you. Chapter 2- I just felt like making him eleven. This is fanfiction, I can do what I want. Chapter 3- Thanks for that one, I fixed it now. Chapter 4- As I said, this is fanfiction and I can do what I want. Nobody gives Ron enough spotlight, even J.K. Rowling, and I really wanted him to be cool in this story. Chapter 6- Yes, I thought that part seemed bit odd, but that's the way it came out so deal with it. Chapter 7- Um, yeah. Dumbledore got manipulated. I'm not a big fan of him anyway. Chapter 8- I am not making Hermione sound air-headed! Or at least I hope not. And no, I'm not aiming for a Hermico(is that the ship name for that?) unless something happens in the story later that makes it fit. Chapter 9- That was me trying and failing to outline Nyroc's difference from the Neville. Chapter 10- Hm, didn't think about that. Chapter 11- Good. Chapter 12- It was a basic accident for that to happen, I was trying to make it sound like Hermione admired him and it eventually came to it being so obvious that she has a crush on him. But it's mainly on request from some people that I'm not doing it. Chapter 13- Okay, now you're just being mean. Chapter 15- Great. I'm starting to think that you're probably more of a PJO fan than Harry Potter. Chapter 16, 18 &amp; 19- Again, this is my story and my fanfiction and I choose what I want the characters to be like. I don't want to be rude, but there are tons of different portrays and everything. Practically everyone's characters are OOC, so I don't see any problem. Look, I appreciate all your reviews as I always do, but next time just try putting it all into one review and sum it up. It's kind of annoying._

_To Valerie: Too many pleases... I think fanfiction had to cut off your apparently way too long message. Check the reviews and you'll see. Next time, just use one please._

_To LianaAlexa: As I mention before, that was just me trying to outline his difference from everyone else. I'm not very used to American slang since I've never been anywhere near there in my life._

_To _THE. NARWHAL. PEOPLE (again, I had to put spaces in to make your name show)_: I know, I'm trying to go out of my way to make him different. And yes, I'm updating!_

_To Aprodite child, H.N. Dots, THE. LLAMA. PEOPLE (see above) and RunWithSciccors: Yes, It's fixed so I'm updating now! I'm so glad you understand!_

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****Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter nor **Percy Jackson &amp; The Olympians******

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—Hermione Granger—

Five minutes into History and Nico still wasn't there. I was sitting next to Ron with an empty seat on my right, but them Harry took that seat. And, yes, I was planning on saving that one for Nico. Ron rolled his eyes at Harry then smirked at me like he knew some big secret I didn't.

Binns was still going on about something the fifth-year class before us had been learning, so I didn't feel bad about talking.

"Where's Nico?" I asked Harry.

Harry put the book he had actually been reading back into one of the bags he had been carrying. I realized that he had Nico's silver bag with him.

"He went to bring Neville to the infirmary during Potions, and he didn't take his things with him so I brought them for him." he answered. "Oh, and I want to show you two something. Come look."

Ron came over so he could see better and Harry opened Nico's Potions book, which had loads of sticky notes filling the pages and covering most of the original content.

"These notes actually work wonders." said Harry. "Much better than the original instructions. He used this before leaving and I saw it and tried the rest out." he saw our skeptical faces. "I'll show you on Monday, we have Potions together then, right? Or you can just ask Nico, really."

Ron scooted forward. "Just simple instructions wouldn't excite you as much as this. Spill."

He looked thoughtful before flipping over to the page where the instructions were for the Draught of Living Death.

Harry jabbed a finger at the bottom of the page. "I'm guessing this must be the person that told him all these miraculous instructions."

At the bottom of the page there was a different, much smaller, much messier handwriting that said;  
Nico, do not let this potion make skin contact with you at any point, Draught of Living Death is very harmful to children of Hades.  
—Amato

Hmm... Hades... where did I hear that before?

"Weird." mumbled Ron."But I've never heard of anyone called Amato or Hades. You, Harry?"

Harry shrugged. "Hades seems sorta familiar but I can't quite seem to put my finger on it."

"Me too." I sighed.

Ron mock gasped. "Hermione doesn't know something! Alert the press!"

"Shut up."

We got bored and I ended up playing exploding snap in class with them for the first time ever. No one in class could get Binns to notice us and figure out he was teaching the wrong thing anyway, so far away from what we were learning that I couldn't catch up at all.

It had to be more than half and hour later that Nico and Neville suddenly came running into the room, Neville looking flustered and embarrassed as usual and Nico looking anxious at first then annoyed.

"Binns." he called. Our professor froze and turned.

"Oh, um, yes, ah, where have you two been?" the class was generally shocked. Binns never acknowledged any of the students.

"Infirmary." Nico said firmly. "I assume we are supposed to be learning about 1815?"

Binns had definitely not been teaching about 1815 earlier but Nico was absolutely right, of course.

"Yes, of course, I mean, um, well I'll just, ah, continue, um..."

"Alright, then." he said. Ron moved over a seat so he sat down between us.

"Gee, thanks for bringing my things for me, Harry." he said happily.

"Don't mention it." he said. "How's Neville?"

"Fine now." he said. "I was worried. Are your Potions lessons always that dangerous?"

I sighed. "Unfortunately."

Ron studied him. "Haven't you done potions in your 'camp'?"

Nico shook his head. "Minor ones, but so many of us didn't have the patience for us that they eventually didn't bother. A pity, really, even if it is rather dangerous."

I smiled at him. He was one of the few people I knew who actually really wanted to learn things like these.

The bell rang.

"Oh! I missed practically the whole lesson!" he exclaimed.

"Pity." said Ron drily. I shot him a look. What was it with him that he could never stay nice to Nico for long?

"It's not as if we were learning anything, really, not until you talked to Binns." Harry pointed out. "He was going on about something the class before us was doing and wouldn't listen to any of us."

Nico shook his head sadly. "That would be just like Binns. Honestly, it's a wonder that Hecate picked him out of all people to stay."

Ron paused and stared at him. "What did you say? I didn't catch that."

I could've sworn Nico had gone pale. He didn't falter, though.

"I'm surprised that Dumbledore allowed him to keep teaching." he said.

I was confused. "I don't think so. You said—"

Suddenly he rounded on us and snapped his fingers.

"I never said all that about Binns. What I said was that I'm surprised that Dumbledore allowed him to keep teaching. You never saw anything strange. Ron only just asked me to repeat myself." he said as if it was a long incantation.

And suddenly, I completely believed all he had just said. I couldn't remember what he had really said, just that he was surprised about Binns and all. Weird. What was I saying again?

I turned to Ron. "Ron, he said—"

"I know what he said." he interrupted me.

Harry sighed. "C'mon, let's just go get lunch."

"You go ahead." said Nico. "I need to go to the bathroom first."

I nodded to him and he went down a different corridor.

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**The next chapter is very short because it's not really a chapter, it's just a different point of view. When I write these, I consider every different point of view as a new chapter.**


	21. Nico di Angelo XX

****Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter nor **Percy Jackson &amp; The Olympians******

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—Nico di Angelo—

Stupid! Stupid, stupid, stupid!

Forget about being the 'most mysterious' one! I just plain don't know how to act! Darn, Draco and Nyroc got through the last two years fine! Alabaster and Luna even managed to be practically invisible! I can't do this! Gods, I was practically telling them that something was up with me! No wonder Ron suspects me! I'm a terrible actor! I'm going to put this entire quest at risk! Argh!

Oh, and if Draco finds out about this we're going to be planning my funeral by tomorrow.

Deep breaths. Calm down.

At least I've learned the basics of manipulating the Mist. I'm not sure what would've happened if I hadn't made them forget. Okay, I think I might be off the hook for now. They don't remember. Yeah. I used the Mist a lot to cover stuff up, like when I first brought Hazel to Camp Jupiter. It had been awkward and suspicious.

I think what scares me more, is that I just realized that I hadn't been acting much lately. Out there, in the demigod world world, I acted. I thought that it would be easier to act here because I already acted as the creepy Ghost King almost twenty-four seven before the whole Argo II thing. I hadn't realized that coming here just meant I didn't really have to act anymore. Alright, I was supposed to act more innocent but I wasn't exactly doing that much today.

I can't let people see the true me. If they do, they'll have a major hold over me that loads of people do have on each other, but I like that advantage.

I think I've calmed down enough...

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**So... I think there are three ways I could make this story go.**

**a) Have the demigods find out and come to find him**

**b) Go through a version of The Prisoner Of Azkaban**

**c) Have a fight with Voldermort where he is possibly defeated.**

**Which one would you rather have? (I'm leaning more toward a or b)**

**Reminder: Nothing after The Chamber Of Secrets is canon!**


	22. Harry Potter XXI

**I'm sorry about this chapter not being as long as it could be, flying scenes are particularly hard for me to write for some reason.**

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_To Guest: Ok. Wow, did you notice you managed to review like, one measly hour after I last updated?_

_To H.N. Dots, Kontonio and Knight Wolfe and Ace Wayfarer: Alright, looks like I'll be going with a._

_To AlexaLiana: Thanks! I know it took a long time. And yes, the choice is probably officially a._

_To TimeIsGalleons: Maybe... you'll have to wait and see._

_To She-wolf Shadow: That would be interesting... but I'm sorry to say that the choice is probably a, as the majority have chosen it._

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****Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter nor **Percy Jackson &amp; The Olympians******

* * *

—Harry Potter—

Nico didn't disappear for long this time. He soon came into the hall.

"Here, Nico." said Hermione, pushing the plate we filled towards him.

Nico groaned. "How many times do I need to say I don't need you to take care of me?"

"In order for the message to sink in? Maybe forever." said Ron, getting more upbeat again.

He grumbled but I noticed he seemed to enjoy eating the food and getting crowed over by us.

When he was done, I pulled him up. "Come on, let's go early before Quidditch practice."

He looked confused. "Why? I'm not on the Quidditch team. Quidditch is some kind of sport, right?"

"Yeah." said Ron, getting suspicious again. "Are you sure you don't know about it?"

Nico shrugged. "I might have heard it once or twice, but I don't really."

I was amazed that he didn't know about Quidditch. It was practically the only sport in the wizarding world, after all.

"Then it's your lucky day." I said to him. "Since Quidditch is the best sport in the world and I'm going to show you all about it."

He was starting to look nervous. "Okay."

Hermione and Ron followed us to the Quidditch pitch.

I grabbed my Nimbus Two Thousand. "So, the rules are relatively simple—"

"No way!" gasped Ron. "You're really going to let him ride your Nimbus Two Thousand!"

I looked at him strangely. Maybe he was jealous since I hadn't met Nico all that long ago but it had taken me a couple of weeks before Ron rode it.

"Um, yeah." I said before I continued explaining to Nico how to play Quidditch.

Nico looked a bit pale when I was done, for some reason.

"Okay." I handed him my broom. "So—"

"There's sort of another problem, Harry." he said nervously. "I can't fly."

We all stared at him.

"Hey, don't look at me like that!" he said defensively. "Lots of first-years can't fly, and my camp isn't exactly big on flying okay?"

I had to admit he had a point. But what kind of camp taught advanced magic and no flying?!

"Well," I decided. "In that case, we're just gonna have to teach you."

I put my broomstick on the ground, deciding to start with what Madam Hooch taught us. "Right, hold your hand over the broom and say 'up.'"

Nico nodded slowly and did that. It didn't move.

"Up." he said louder. Then he began to look annoyed. "Up, you stupid thing!"

The broom still didn't move. He looked frustrated and yelled, "UP!"

As if shot out of a cannon, it slammed into him and shot off into the air.

"Help!" yelled Nico. "Now what!"

"Uh, um, lean right to steer right and left to steer left!" I yelled back. He screamed something that might've been okay before narrowly avoiding a tree only to narrowly swerve past a statue, uh oh.

"Fred, lend me your broom." I called, turning around.

Fred(probably) looked confused as he entered the Quidditch pitch. "Why?"

As if on cue, Nico flew past screaming and almost colliding with the wall of a tower.

"That's why!" said Hermione, looking distraught.

"Then we'll help." said both twins in unison, swinging their legs over their own broomsticks and taking off into the air.

"Help!" Nico yelled, spinning past.

Ron let out a snicker but quickly turned it into a cough when Hermione looked at him.

The twins reached for him as he zipped past them again and again. I stared, praying that they wouldn't destroy my broomstick.

Finally, Nico collided with the seats at the edge of the pitch and collapsed on them looking dizzy.

Me and Ron had to suppress the urge to laugh. I hadn't seen anyone naturally mess up at flying at all since first-year.

"Not funny." he grumbled as Fred and George dumped him on the ground. We were all trying our best not to laugh, but failing miserably.

I took my broomstick back from one of them.. "Well, I didn't expect you to lose your temper with the broomstick! Anyway, haven't you ever tried flying before?"

He shrugged. "Once. My cousin Jason —best flier back there— decided it would be fun to grab me and fly around a bit. It was scary, but I know he wouldn't have let anything happen."

"You've got a cousin?" Ron asked.

"Yeah, at least three. We don't keep in touch much, unfortunately." Nico suddenly looked uncomfortable.

"That's fine." said Hermione, shooting Ron a look to which he replied with a smirk.

"Harry! Practice is starting!" called Wood.

I looked back at them, feeling slightly jealous that I wouldn't get to spend more time with them today when Nico was around too. Because let's face it, Ron was right about him being strange.

Nico turned to look at me. "I guess we'll see you later."

I nodded a bit reluctantly. "Yeah. See ya." I said before leaving.


	23. Ronald Weasley XXII

**Argh! This chapter took awhile more than usual, I know! I was so focused on a chapter for my other story! Sorry!**

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_To Guest: Alright, I am._

_To H.N. Dots: That and remember all the gods blessed him and gave him free clearance? I'm pretty sure I mentioned that._

_To Me: He he, that was probably the meanest thing I've managed to do to my characters so far._

_To Aphrodite child: Thanks!_

_To Guest (I'm seriously not sure if you are the same person...): I'm actually considering putting the whole Marauder thing in, so that Harry meets Sirius and all before the other demigods come._

_To Guest (like, really really not sure): He he._

* * *

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter nor **Percy Jackson &amp; The Olympians****

* * *

—Ronald Weasley—

Interrogation time. Okay, not really interrogation, but still. I wanted to find out more about Nico, he just didn't fit into the puzzle.

"So..." I started as we went back towards the Gryffindor tower. "You're from America, Long Island, New York, right?"

He looked a little taken aback. "How did—"

"Dumbledore mentioned it at the start-of-term-feast. Remember, Hermione?"

Hermione nodded, to my relief. "Yeah. Strange, he doesn't usually say stuff like that."

Nico shrugged indifferently. "I wouldn't know. But yes, Ron, around that region."

We walked past the library, where I found Hermione having the internal struggle of either collecting more knowledge from her precious books or hanging out with her wonderful crush with the possibility of gaining knowledge that way too. I solved the problem for her.

"Why don't you do that research like you wanted and we'll see you in the common room later?" I said to her. She gave me a slightly disappointed look then nodded and went in.

Nico looked slightly more uncomfortable as we continued on in silence.

"How many cousins do you have again?" I asked finally.

"What?" he asked, catching himself. "Why do you ask?"

I shrugged. "Curious."

I waited for his answer.

"Three." he decided. "I think. Not including deceased ones, of course."

Deceased. Some of his cousins died.

"Arachnid." I told the fat lady. You know, I always thought it's ridiculous that that painting is actually called the fat lady, even by the teachers. You'll think she had a proper name or something. It must be offensive for people to keep calling you 'the fat lady' all day.

I'm wandering. "So Nico, are both of your parents wizards?"

Nico nodded. "Yeah. They're both muggleborns."

"Really." I thought aloud. Either he was telling the truth, or this kid was a very good liar. I already had the feeling that he confounded us somewhere before, I just couldn't place my finger on it.

"Wait, how can you not know how many cousins you have?" I wondered aloud. Of course, it was possible for us Weasleys, our family tree is huge. In a way, Malfoy was right when he said that all Weasleys have red hair (obviously) and more children than we can afford.

"We have a really big family." he explained. "And then there are loads of stepbrothers and stepsisters among them too. I need to figure out which ones are first-cousins, the rest are complicated."

Apart from the stepfamilies thing, that sounded a lot like the Weasleys.

"What kind of camp do you go to anyway?" I asked. "Hermione would love it, what's it called?"

He smiled. "Chiron's Elemental Camp. Not very original. It's named after the first camp director."

Hmm. "Sounds cool. When did it start?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. None of us really paid that much attention in the theory lessons so they stopped giving them."

"Wish they'll do that for us." I chuckled.

He laughed a bit with me. "I agree."

That caught me by surprise. He was such a 'good student' that I never thought he would think that way. "Really? But isn't studies, um, really important to you?"

He looked like he wanted to burst out laughing but quickly caught himself. I kept looking pointedly at him. He finally sighed and gave me a sheepish look. "Don't tell Hermione, okay? I try, since you guys are my only friends, and I figured that as long as I seemed to take schoolwork as seriously as her then I'll be able to stick around you guys."

Interesting. Very interesting. I think that was the one actual confession out of the entire conversation.

"So why do it that way?" I pressed. "Wouldn't it be an awful lot of hassle just to hang around a couple of kids that happened to be nice to you?"

He looked a bit disappointed. "So you don't really like me around?"

"No, no, I don't particularly mind you."

Anymore. Nico really was cool to have around, especially now that I had become less affected by his glassy black eyes. Even if he was so annoyingly mysterious.

"I mean," I tried to think of how to say this. "Why go through that trouble? It should've been obvious by then that we were going to be friends with you from the start. More or less."

He shrugged uncomfortably. I waited for his answer.

"Well," he hesitated. "I was desperate to make sure we were really going to be like friends, and not just a spur-of-the-moment celebrity novelty like it was with Dean and Seamus."

I suddenly felt guilty, wondering whether I had really been as much of a friend as he acted like I was. Even Hermione seemed to have noticed that I could barely even keep at least neutral to him for long.

"And I wasn't sure," he continued awkwardly. "Since I've never really had friends before. People usually treat me differently because of my father, and not in a good way. I've never really known friendship. Once I got a taste of what it felt like when I came here, I didn't want to lose it again."

Nico was rambling. Not uncommon for us, but that meant two things. One, he was comfortable enough to speak freely around me. Two, he would probably accidentally let slip more information.

"I mean, back at camp no one really accepts me, even my cousins don't really. Well, Jason sorta does, but that's on rocky ground. Everyone else shuns me because of my father."

There it was, his father reference again. I couldn't help but wonder why they would keep hating him because of that. What kind of horrible person could his father possibly be?

Nico was staring at me in shock. With a jolt, I realized that my last thought had been spoken aloud.

"I-I mean, I, um," there wasn't really anything I could say to cover that up. "Who's your father?" I relented.

He looked worried, wringing his hands and avoiding eye contact. "I'm going to tell you the truth, which is that I can't tell you."

I studied him. "You don't want to, you're not supposed to, or you physically can't?"

Nico looked taken aback by this, as he often did whenever I spoke with him (which wasn't a lot) but immediately answered, "I'm not supposed to."

"Oh. Okay."

There was an awkward silence, despite the easy stream of talk that had been coming from him mere seconds before. We had entered our dorm room at some point, I noticed, and were now sitting opposite each other on our bunks.

I let my mind wander for awhile. Did Hermione make any progress on her research? Had she come up with yet another marvelous conclusion? More importantly, had I myself learned anything from this interrogation?

I knew vaguely where his camp was and a bit about his family, I knew the name of his camp (which I could maybe get Hermione to look up later), I knew he had been pretending to be studious in desperation to be our friend, and I knew that he wasn't used to people being nice to him. This was all provided he wasn't lying.

The silence was getting much too uncomfortable.

"I'm sorry for asking." I said after awhile. Nico looked up from his feet. "You know, about your father. That was too nosy of me."

He regarded me with interest. "Don't be." he said reassuringly. "I suppose it is rather suspicious, isn't it?"

I grinned at the way he said it. "Oh, Nico, stay here much longer and you'll lose that American accent of yours for good!"

He pouted playfully. "See here, Ronald, it'll be your fault if that may happen." he said, deliberately speaking more… British, I guess. Never really thought of the way we speak as 'British'. It was just the normal way of speaking to us.

"Don't call me Ronald." I jested back.

"Why not?" he taunted. "That's your real name, isn't it?"

"You're just jealous because I have an incredibly perfect name!" I mocked. "…Little Nicky!"

"Hey!" he flushed red. "You don't call me that either!"

"But it fits!" I cried, laughing by now. "Really!"

"No it doesn't!"

"Yes! You're so little sometimes I forget that you're already eleven!"

"I'm not little! Call me that again I'll throw you in Tartarus for all that's worth!"

I stopped laughing and he, who had also been partly in hysterics, froze as well.

"What?" I asked, more confused than anything.

He was avoiding eye contact again. The tension was back, much briefer this time, though.

"Do you trust me, Ron?" he asked hesitantly.

That was an odd question. It caught me off-guard, and I found myself struggling to find the answer myself. Did I trust Nico di Angelo? Young, scrawny, mysterious and desperate?

"I trust you as a friend," I tried to form my feelings into words, "But I don't know you well enough to trust you on really important things, if you get what I mean."

He seemed a little disappointed, but also as if he had been expecting it. "Well, it was sorta nice talking to you, Ron, you can be a really good listener."

He got up and left. My mind took awhile to process that before I jumped up and ran over to the door. The 'where are you going' died in my throat as I realized he was already gone.

I sat back down on my bunk. Thinking.

'I'll throw you in Tartarus', that was a strange threat. Where the hell was Tartarus anyway? Maybe Hermione would know.

My head almost ached. Nico was like a complex math puzzle that I, for some reason, really really wanted to solve. It was like playing a chess game with a complete stranger, not knowing if any of his moves were open or fake, whether he was pulling strings or just going with the flow.

Suddenly, it hit me like a ton of bricks.

Gets judged by his father. Shunned for it. Dark clothes, dark eyes, creepy aura.

Voldermort.

* * *

**So, in case you didn't get it, Ron now thinks that Nico's father is Voldermort. I know it's been done loads but that just seems like the obvious assumption he would make.**

**Now, it seems I need your help again. Since Professor Lupin will still be taking DADA, what should the boggarts be for Nico, Nyroc, Luna, Draco and Alabaster? Please help! I'm stuck on that one!**


	24. Luna Amato XXIII

**I know I haven't exactly been making my chapters all that much longer. I'll keep trying, but... yeah.**

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_To Guest: I'm really glad you like it. And great idea for that boggart!_

_To Knight Wolfe and Ace Wayfarer: Thanks for those suggestions! They were really good!_

_To H. N. Dots: Wow, you are so right! Hermione probably isn't going to just sit back and take that, though, so it won't be one of those things where they immediately start avoiding him._

_To THE. NARWHAL. PEOPLE: Yeah... I'm not very good at writing long chapters, I'm afraid. And for the Tartarus thing, that's because Nico is really used to saying stuff like that and is getting more comfortable around the wizards now._

_To Me: Mm hm._

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**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter nor Percy Jackson &amp; the Olympians**

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—Luna Amato—

Nargles exist. They're tiny invisible creatures that ride the Mist around and sometimes into people's heads. Since they get completely covered in it, a victim's brain will get muddled and foggy, or misty, if you must.

I don't have any Nargles. Draco doesn't either, though he really might soon. Nargles tend to invade people who are stressed on the inside more than those that are calm.

Nate definitely has Nargles. That's partly because he works with the Mist so much, and partly because he spent an entire year being isolated. Nargles tend to invade people who don't have any mental or outward support.

Nyroc doesn't have any Nargles. He seems to scare them off. That's the effect he has on most living creatures. I'm not sure whether Nico has any Nargles. I don't think he does, though, as much as he acts like it. Nico is the only one of us that still has enough emotional trauma to be that confused in his head.

Harry has Nargles. Being The Boy Who Lived gives him enough stress. So does Dumbledore, I would imagine for similar reasons. Snape does too, he's vulnerable because of that whole love triangle thing that Nyroc started explaining to us before I zoned out.

Nargles are strange creatures. Most wizards don't think they exist because unless you know about the Mist, it doesn't make sense. All in all, Nargles seem to invade almost anyone's head, but leave before they can inflict noticeable change. But some do leave their mark, and this is why some people completely change their personality over the course of a few years.

Yes, Nargles are strange creatures.

This is what I was musing about the call came. The Potter Band call. My coin grew hot and I pulled it out to check that the message was still the same. Potter Band meeting time.

It isn't hard to sneak out from the Hufflepuff dormitory. Our common room is always so chaotic and unorganized that everyone was too busy worrying about themselves. Well, we worry about each other too, but it's obviously quite hard to help someone with their homework if you can't find your own and quite difficult to help someone who's lost if you keep tripping down the stairs.

See, the problem with Hufflepuff is that the students originally aren't very good at one specific thing. Some are sorta brave, some are bit sly, some are even rather smart. Some of us go on to be later braver than some Gryffindors, better than some Ravenclaws, or even, sadly, worse than some Slytherins. But we don't usually start off excelling at one particular field, so we get put in Hufflepuff. And Hufflepuff is the oddball group that doesn't fit into any one box. Then, because we're so different, the Hufflepuffs aren't nearly as united as the Ravenclaws, or Gryffindors, or Slytherins can be.

So in a way, Helga Hufflepuff did not do us all that much of a big favor with the contribution of her house.

The Room Of Rquirement isn't very far at all from the Hufflepuff common room. I was, naturally, the first there.

Nate was next. It really is confusing how we all call him different names like that.

"Hey Luna." he greeted me.

"Hi Nate." I smiled back at him. "How is your Potions class going so far?"

As far as being a son of Hecate goes, there isn't any potion-making in the gig. I'm sure that's the only class he still has trouble in.

"Better now." he said truthfully. "Snape has come to see me as neutral game. I must be the only one in all our classes that he isn't biased to."

We were interrupted by the door opening. Draco stalked in, looking sullen.

"What's wrong, Draco?" I asked confusedly. He waved me off and collapsed on a beanbag while we waited for Nico and Nyroc to show up.

Several minutes later, Nyroc came running in. "Sorry! Detention."

Draco rolled his eyes and looked at his watch while tapping his foot impatiently.

The Room Of Requirement provided us with Uno cards to play with while we waited. Maybe it had something to do with being a Ravenclaw but Alabaster won almost every time.

After a while, I couldn't stand the silence anymore. I set down my cards and turned to Draco, who was still tapping with his fingers and foot agitatedly. "What's gotten you so upset, Draco? You're freaking me out."

"What's wrong?! What's WRONG?! NICO NEARLY REVEALED US TO THE GOLDEN TRIO AFTER YOUR HISTORY CLASS AND HE'S COMPLETELY BROKEN OUT OF CHARACTER!" he yelled. The three of us instinctively scrambled back.

Draco NEVER yelled. Not really, anyway, not unless he was acting. The last time he had yelled was back in first year when Nyroc had panicked and tried to stop the Golden Trio from going to save the Stone rather than alerting the rest of the band.

But now he was full-out screaming and currently swearing pretty badly as well. If I had a guess, he had been holding back that temper of his until Nico came.

"AND THE IDIOT BOY DOESN'T EVEN TELL ANY OF US! I SWEAR, IF THE MIST DOESN'T WORK —AND HE SHOULD BLOODY WELL HOPE IT DOES— THEN I'LL—"

"Did I miss something?" a voice asked from the doorway nervously.

Nico looked awkwardly at us, who couldn't help but stare coolly back at him after the slip-up he apparently made. I couldn't help thinking once again whether Nico had Nargles, which often makes a person more distracted.

Draco took a deep breath and seemed to calm down a bit, though he still had his fists clenched so hard his knuckles were white.

Without turned around, he gritted his teeth and spoke as calmly as humanely possible for someone who was screaming bloody murder a few moments ago. "Nico, come in and close the door."

Nico did that, still looking really nervous. He kept staring at the ground and shuffling his feet.

Draco took another deep breath. "You know what you've done?" he said clearly, the calmness in his voice sounding less forced now.

Nico fiddled with his ring, which we had enchanted to turn into his sword.

"Yes." he said quietly, sounding rather like a schoolchild having gotten caught doing something dangerous. I was a bit surprised at his reaction, half-expecting him to put up an indifferent mask as Nyroc had attempted when he was the one being yelled at.

"Stop playing with your ring Nico." he ordered. Nico hurriedly dropped his hand to his side.

He faced the younger boy. Younger. Oh. It had never really occurred to me much about how Nico must feel being younger and less experienced here than the rest of us. He interacted so casually with us and acted so much wiser than his few years.

All this streamed through me as Draco looked down at him with an unreadable expression. "All three of them were already suspicious of you in their own ways, even Hermione." he told him seriously. "And now Ron knows you changed his memories at one point."

Nico looked vaguely startled. "How do you—"

"I know these things, Nico." he said sadly.

I frowned at him. Surely he hadn't been... not after the last time...

Draco sighed. "Look, you've got to be more careful. Getting comfortable with them is fine and all, but you can't drop your act too much."

"That's the problem." he interrupted with a worried tone, refusing to meet any of our eyes. "If I'm acting, then I'm not acting. It's just, my roles aren't as extreme as yours so it's really easy to keep slipping back." he looked to us helplessly.

I sighed. Well, Nico was supposed to trust us anyway. Our band of undercover demigods were supposed to be able to talk things over without being worried about trust and whatnot. It was different from when Draco blew up at Neville, the three of us had known each other for almost an entire year by then.

If Nico had heard Draco ranting, that would probably explain why he looked so scared now. Draco would never really hurt any of us, but he never seems to be aware of the things he says when he's getting all that out of his system. Considering this was almost an entire year worth of stress, it was no surprise.

"Let's calm down." I said, stepping up to them. I looked to Draco then Nico. "It was just an accident, nothing we can't fix easily."

I looked back at Nyroc and Nate like, 'Back me up guys!'

"Yeah," said Nate, catching up. "Just a little more Mist and they'll be no trace left of anything that might give us away."

"Besides, it's not the first time one of us slipped-up." said Nyroc.

Me and Nate glared at him. Idiot.

"What?!" Draco asked fiercely, turning around.

"Um..."

"Okay, that's enough!" I yelled myself. "Now we're fighting. We can't fight."

Nyroc huffed in annoyance. "Well it's not my fault!"

He swung round and made a few practice dummies appear, courtesy of The Room Of Requirement. Nate and Draco stalked over to their usual training courses.

Nico looked pretty confused.

"The day hasn't exactly gone smoothly." I told him. "So we train to let off the steam. It's much better than lashing out at each other."

"Oh."

Nico took out his sword and started training.

Being the peacekeeper is actually more of my job. After all, Hufflepuff is the only house that didn't strike up a huge rivalry with anyone.

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**I really think Draco needed that chance to yell. Otherwise the Nargles will overload him from stress.**


	25. Hermione Granger XXIV

**Okay, I'm sorry if I didn't make this clear enough or confused any of you with Luna's character.**

**If you remember, nothing after the second book of Harry Potter is canon here. I started writing this before reading the rest of the books. This character, Luna, is not the Luna from the books that you know. She was inspired her, read in other fanfictions that mentioned her. I knew she was going to be in Ravenclaw, but since I didn't know her character well I couldn't quite imagine why. You'll also notice that she is also in the same year as Harry in this fic, instead of the year below him.**I

**INow that I've read the rest of the books, my Luna is possibly acting more like how the actual Luna is. Yeah, that's probably making it even more confusing. I'm sorry about that, but you'll just have to deal with it. It's the same way Nyroc/Neville's parents are not really Alice and Frank Longbottom, Harry does not have that prophecy about him, and Lucius Malfoy is possibly not exactly a death eater.**

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_To the two Guest s that asked about Luna as well as Dark-Knight: Just see the Author's Note above._

_To the Guest that didn't ask about Luna: I'm sorry. Was it the Nargles thing? I was trying to imitate what Luna's semi-sane train of thought might be._

_To THE. LLAMA. PEOPLE: Thanks! I don't think it was much longer, but it's your opinions that really count. And I'm glad I succeeded on Draco's character so far._

_To Aphrodite child: Here's your wish!_

_To H. N. Dots: Really? I didn't know that. Well, I thought since most people found Hufflpuff the be 'that much of a threat', they wouldn't have made any huge rivalries. Even Slytherin mostly seems to ignore them. I'm glad you agree about Draco!_

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**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter nor Percy Jackson &amp; the Olympians**

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—Hermione Granger—

This was impossible.

Two entire hours in the library and I couldn't find a single clue on the word Hades!

How? How was it possible that was yet another thing out there that I could not find through my research? How? First Nicolas Flamel, now this…!

After I realized the Quidditch practice had ended, I actually decided to give up. Give up! It was that hard.

It was painfully disappointing to have to walk back to the common room having gained no leads on Nico di Angelo. As painful as it was to agree with Ron, there really was something strange about him.

I was so distracted in my wallowing thoughts that I didn't notice anyone come up to me until he said, "Hey Hermione."

I looked up. "Oh, hey Harry."

Harry gave me a concerned look. "Are you alright?"

I shrugged. "Yeah. I couldn't find anything on Hades in the library."

Harry frowned. "Wow. This is like Nicolas Flamel all over again."

"Yeah, only this time neither of you are helping much." I said, rolling my eyes.

"I wouldn't say that." Ron smirked from where he had been lounging on an armchair.

"Oh?" I said, raising an eyebrow. "And what did you find out that's getting you all high-and-mighty?"

The smile dropped off his face. "Come upstairs and I'll tell you."

We followed him into the boys' dorm room and locked the door.

He faced us grimly. "I think Nico's father is Voldermort."

This got two completely different reactions.

"What?! Are you mental?!" I yelled.

"Th-that's not possible." Harry stuttered, eyes wide with shock.

"Voldermort doesn't have any children! He's a cruel, selfish being!"

"Nico's young, a-and innocent."

"Aside from the oh so inconvenient fact that Voldermort has been nothing but a disembodied spirit since twelve years ago and Nico happens to be only eleven!"

"H-he's in Gryffindor, how would Voldermort's son possibly end up in Gryffindor?"

"Nico di Angelo is a sweet innocent boy who just so happens to have a crappy father!"

"Whoa, whoa." Ron frantically tried to calm us down, finally just putting his hand over my mouth and shooting Harry a look. "Cool it. It was just a thought. I think it may be better if we just sit down and talk this through instead of yelling it to the entire castle. And by the way, did you just swear?"

I pushed his hand away and glared at him. Not the time.

"Right…" he said slowly. "Look, it was just a suspicion. Nico kept mentioning how he was hated and secluded because everybody judges him on his father—"

"But that doesn't prove anything." I interrupted.

"I know." Ron told me, rolling his eyes. "You made it very clear."

Harry frowned. "You have to admit… he does look a bit like Voldermort. Black hair, pale skin, dark eyes, all that stuff."

"But that still doesn't mean anything." I huffed. "If you're going to judge everyone like that, then he could very well be Snape's son instead!"

Ron shuddered. "I'm not sure whether I would rather he be Voldermort's son or Snape's son."

"He can't be related to them." I continued. "Because he didn't know about the Sorting or the houses, either, remember? I'm sure if either of them were his father then they would've at least told him about Slytherin."

Ron shrugged. "Yeah, well, maybe they didn't spend time with him and that's why he doesn't know that stuff and doesn't act like a git. But anyway," he cut me off as I opened my mouth to argue again. "I'm not so sure either. You might as well think about it, though, because if you two haven't noticed that there's something very strange about that kid by now then you're apparently more dense than I am."

He left it at that and rose to search his trunk for something.

I turned to Harry, who looked thoughtful.

"Harry? Don't tell me you think he is!"

"I don't know, Hermione." he mused. "It would make some sense. Like, when he didn't react strongly to my name but knew me anyway? Not that I wanted him to react strongly… He can't be Snape's son because Snape was already mean to him in Potions but Voldermort…"

"I can't believe you!" I cried.

"You'll see." said Ron, while feeding Scabbers a handful of food from his trunk. "We may turn out to be wrong about Voldermort, but there'll be something. And whatever it is, I bet we'll find out about it."

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**I know the Golden Trio are all pretty out of character in this one.**


	26. Nico di Angelo XXV

**Sorry to keep you waiting, but I'd like to hope that this chapter is at least longer than the last.**

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_To THE. NARWHAL. PEOPLE: Good idea! I might do that._

_To H.N. Dots: Thank you!_

_To Aphrodite child: It just came to me. Glad you like the idea._

_To InsertCoolName: You'll just have to wait and find out. And, yes._

_To Random Letters: Yeah, I'm getting to that._

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**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter nor Percy Jackson &amp; the Olympians**

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—Nico di Angelo—

The next day, I woke up to a bucket of cold water being splashed in my face.

"Ron! Harry!" I yelled, jumping up.

The bucket had been tossed haphazardly on the floor. "How do you know it was one of us? Maybe it was Seamus! Or Dean!" Ron tried.

I rolled my eyes. "Because you two idiots are the only ones still in the dorm."

They both turned red right before I splashed them in the face with Aguamenti.

"Nico!" they yelled simultaneously. I grabbed my robes and ran with them chasing after me.

Two minutes later, I had changed in my Gryffindor robes (in the bathroom, because I don't want them to see my injuries from previous battles, it could raise questions) and shadow-travelled outside the Great Hall to escape them. Honestly, when I thought about it, this probably wasn't my wisest move. But as Hermione had already caught sight of me, it was too late.

"Morning, Nico." she greeted me.

"Morning." I grinned. "Let's go find our seats."

We went to sit down at the Gryffindor table together, and took out our schedules. Mine would be the same as Nyroc's and Harry's.

"We've got a lot of classes today." I commented, scanning through them. Herbology first (aw man) and Transfiguration, then lunch before Defense Against Dark Arts and Divination.

Harry and Ron ran panting up to us.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Do you ever wake up on time?"

Neither of them answered, but Harry turned to me and asked, "How did you…"

I shrugged. "You guys weren't being very attentive."

It wasn't a very good answer, and Ron narrowed his eyes suspiciously, but they were both distracted by food. As all boys seem to be.

"What's your schedule?" Hermione asked, pulling hers out. She leaned over my shoulder to look at mine.

"Herbology, Transfiguration, Defense Against Dark Arts, and Divination again." I read mine aloud.

"That's the same as mine." said Harry. Uh oh, I think he's starting to get suspicious too.

"Hm." said Ron. "Amazing, that's the same as mine, too."

Wow. "What a coincidence. What about yours, Hermione?" I asked, turning around.

Hermione leaned back into her own seat. "Charms first, then of course I've got Arithmancy instead of Divination." she said with a sigh.

"Oh." I was actually rather relieved that she wouldn't be joining us in Herbology. I suck at plants, magical or otherwise.

Harry dropped another sandwich on my plate. "Eat."

"Geez." I said with a roll of my eyes.

"Who eats one measly cup of yogurt for breakfast?" Ron commented.

"They're right," said Hermione. "I usually say the opposite to them, but you need to eat more. You're starving yourself."

"You need to sleep more, too." Harry added. "You've still got dark circles under your eyes, even if they're getting fainter."

"Thanks for reminding me, mom." I said to Harry sarcastically.

"If Harry's the mum, then who's the dad?" Ron asked.

"You, obviously." said Hermione. Ron gave her a look.

I quietly ate. Do you know what's gastritis? Gastritis is where you eat something after not eating for a long time, and that makes your stomach hurt. I used to get it every single time I ate, and that's why I didn't like to eat much.

Funnily enough, after these three forced me to eat a lot at the opening feast, I didn't get much pain anymore. Not enough to be annoying, anyway.

When we had finished breakfast (Ron acted like he hadn't eaten for days!) me, Harry and Ron headed down to the greenhouse.

I let them walk in front of me, and hung back to talk to Nyroc.

"I'm going to hate this class." I mumbled to him. Even though Persephone and Demeter were also required to give me free clearance, pretty much any plant I touch dies anyway.

Nyroc gave me a smug smile, making me irritated. "What are you so happy about?"

He grinned. "I love Herbology. It's my best subject."

I blinked. "Really?"

He nodded. "Yeah. Draco said it's the safest thing to go for if I wanted good grades for something."

"But… you're a child of death…"

"Oh, Nico." he said with a shake of his head. "Don't you remember what I was doing whenever you came across me at your father's palace?"

I blinked again. "Um, no. I thought you were just hanging around there because your dad was always busy."

He glared. "I was working!"

I was taken aback, which was really becoming a common occurrence here at Hogwarts. "Working?"

"Yes! Persephone had me taking after her garden. Skeletons aren't exactly the best for keeping stuff alive!"

"Seriously?" I asked, shocked. Nyroc… gardening? And Persephone let him?

"She only hates you because you're a constant reminder of your dad cheating with your mother." Nyroc said, rolling his eyes. "So of course she's fine with me."

"Oh."

We entered the greenhouse. Nyroc had a smile plastered across his face as he examined the plants. I wasn't sure whether he was acting or not, but I hope he was. I've already got a death nut, a cereal nut, and a flower nut back at the palace. I don't need a plant nut hanging around too.

Professor Sprout seemed nice. I sat between Harry and Nyroc, hoping not to attract too much attention. The class went smoothly until she handed out some sort of plant we were supposed to extract the sap out of.

"Now what?" I whispered desperately to Nyroc.

"Just try to extract the sap like she said! Don't worry if you can't do it, loads of people don't listen close enough when she explains." he answered faintly, not even turning to look at me.

I noticed out of the corner of my eye that Ron and Harry were looking at me, and remembered that I wasn't supposed to be good friends with Nyroc.

"C'mon, Nico." said Harry, once he noticed that I had noticed him. "It's not that easy, but it's not particularly dangerous either. Give it a try."

Stalling sometimes helps. The universe sometimes decides to be bizarre and let a giant spider smash up the greenhouse or something. "Um, how are we supposed to do it again?"

Harry gave me a funny look. Assuming Ron hadn't told him our conversation, he didn't know that I had been pretending to be studious all this time. Well, I knew what to do, really, I just couldn't remember right now…

"Just grab the bud where it meets the stalk and twist your knife down the middle of the flower. Yeah, it's confusing and messy." he told me as sap started running down his arms.

Darn. Stalling didn't work. I prayed to the gods that they could do something to make sure that the plant wouldn't die when I touched it…

My finger must've brushed against a leaf, because it withered up and spread across the plant from that plant. Harry and Ron gasped, Nyroc stared alarmingly at it. Within seconds, yes, the whole plant was dead.

I, stupid, idiotic, clumsy me, tried to back away from it and nearly tripped over my chair. The result was falling into the row of plants behind me, which resulted in killing them all.

Chaos ensued. Kids were afraid and running around. I tried to run, and every plant I touched died. Harry and Ron tried to get to me, and so did Nyroc. Professor Sprout was yelling. Any moment now, and other teachers would run in and demand to know why I killed everything I touched and then our secret will be out and… and…

I stopped. So did Nyroc. Across the room, Alabaster was standing with his wand out. I had forgotten that Ravenclaw was taking this class with us!

Everyone else was lying on the floor in a deep sleep, like during the Battle Of Manhattan.

"Wow." Nyroc said eventually.

Alabaster stared down at the students then around at the greenhouse. "Okay, we've got maybe half an hour to wipe everyone's memory and fix up the greenhouse. Nico, considering the greenhouse is a very, um, dangerous place for you, could you go find Draco? The Slytherins are having History Of Magic."

I nodded and slipped out, feeling very exposed as I ran back up to the castle. Though, if anyone caught me, I could easily say I was just going to the bathroom.

The question, I realized, was how would I let Draco know to come out? I couldn't just waltz in and call him over in front of all the Slytherins. Maybe I could influence Binns or something… nah.

That it hit me. Our communication coins! Maybe I could use those! …Somehow.

I wondered if Binns could sense my presence, most ghosts could. If he did, I hoped he'll had the sense not to do anything that would give me away.

Suddenly, the door opened as small as it could go and still let a human through. Draco shut the door behind him.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, leaning down so that they wouldn't be spotted through the classroom windows.

"I could ask you the same thing— I mean, we had a problem down at the greenhouse and Alabaster sent me to get you."

He nodded and we both headed back, our footsteps tapping lightly against the floor as we ran.

"What happened?" he asked, pulling me down shortcut after shortcut.

"I accidentally killed all the plants by touch, nothing new, really." I answered.

He slapped his forehead. "Golly! I can't believe we forgot to do something about that death touch of yours."

We reached outside. "I never messed up in planning around here before, until you came along! You're making me look bad!"

"Excuse me? How did you know I was outside your classroom, anyway?"

"Binns was acting jumpy. Besides, even if you decided to come in, all of my classmates were sleeping. I would've slept too, but you know, constant vigilance and all."

We approached the greenhouse, which was thankfully looking much more like a greenhouse and much less like a brown-house.

"I wiped their memories." Alabaster told us as we walked in. "Starting from around the time the plants were given out. What should I replace them with?"

"Nothing." Draco decided, while nodding approvingly. "Maybe make a random plant give off a lot of gas from behind them, so it looks as if they've all just passed out suddenly."

Nyroc put a last plant back onto Professor Sprout's desks. "There's supposed to be a plant that gives of a kind of chloroform gas—"

"Isn't it the Ficklestool plant?" I asked. Hey, I may be a natural plant-killer, but I do know my facts, actually.

Draco looked around. "Nyroc, see if you can whip up some Ficklestool plant. Alabaster, you look ready to pass out yourself, I'll do the memory-changing."

Alabaster grinned thank-you then collapsed where he stood.

We all blinked at him before Nyroc went back to searching for the Ficklestool plant and Draco began changing their memories.

"What am I supposed to do?" I asked.

Draco looked over at me. "Oh, yeah. You might want to grab your things and leave for awhile. Sorry. Until I find something to counteract your death touch, it's not safe for you to stay in the greenhouse too long."

I nodded dejectedly and grabbed my bag. I couldn't really blame Draco for wanting me out of the way, and I'd long decided that reading between the lines wasn't good anyway.

The bell suddenly rang. Draco grabbed me from behind and shoved me onto the ground. Not until I started getting up with the mass of students around me that I realized why he did that, Draco needed it to look like I had passed out with everyone else.

Ron rubbed his eyes. "What made us pass out?"

"A Ficklestool plant, by the smell of it." Nyroc stated quietly. "How interesting."


	27. Harry Potter XXVI

**It feels like ages since I last updated! I'm so sorry!**

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_To THE. NARWHAL. PEOPLE: I'm glad you like it! About your Triwizard Tournament idea, that would be good except that it strays from the plot of the story too much. I could write a different story with that, but probably not here._

_To Aphrodite child: Thanks!_

_To TeddyRemusPotter: I goes that was one way of figuring it out... I did plan for Nico to be a Gryffindor from the start._

_To blackclaw: Thank you... I have no idea what book or movie or whatever you were referencing though..._

_To Guest: Pretty much. Harry will probably meet Sirius and all, but it will mostly center around demigods here._

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**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter nor Percy Jackson &amp; the Olympians**

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—Harry Potter—

Nico had gone from interesting to increasingly mysterious. He was our next mystery, and I found myself watching him a lot more than usual.

I lost him in the swarm of students leaving the greenhouse in our hurry to get to our next classes. I'm not sure what it was for the Ravenclaws in our class, but for all us Gryffindors it was Transfiguration.

When me and Ron tracked him down again, he was already seated next to Hermione in the classroom.

"Over here, guys." Hermione called. We quickly took the seats on either side of them, Ron next to Hermione and me next to Nico, as everyone else from Herbology streamed into the class.

"Some weird lesson, Herbology, huh Nico?" said Ron, leaning over.

Hermione looked between us. "Why? What happened?"

"A Ficklestool plant made us all pass out and miss a good chunk of the lesson." said Nico.

"Why do these things only happen when you three are having a class together without me?" she asked in mock devastation.

We stifled our laughter as Professor McGonagall walked into the room.

"Alright class, today we will be learning about Animagi. Can anyone tell me what an animagus is?"

Predictably, Nico's hand went up.

"Animagi are wizards who can transform at will into animals," he answered quietly.

"Yes." she said with a nod. "Like this…"

And suddenly she transformed herself into a tabby cat with spectacle markings around her eyes.

We all gasped and applauded her. I noticed, out of the corner of my eye, that Nico was not quite as enthusiastic.

Sadly, the rest of the lesson was not quite as interesting as it began. Professor McGonagall talked about how each person's animagus form would have distinctive markings, such as color, spectacle shapes, missing or extra appendages, and scars, animagi were supposed to be registered by the ministry and to do otherwise was illegal, one is only to attempt becoming an animagi when they are of age… and a bunch of other stuff that we pretty much just took notes on.

We left for lunch after that. Animagi sounded fun… but not if we were only going to be taking notes the whole time.

Ron started pigging in. I was surprised when suddenly hundreds of owls streamed into the Great Hall.

"Mail?" I asked, confused, as Hedwig landed next to my plate and dropped a rolled-up piece of paper on my lap.

"Don't they usually deliver these at breakfast?" Hermione wondered aloud, before getting distracted. "Hey, it's a newspaper."

I stared down at the cover. The man there looked pale, with long crazy black hair. There was a manic look in his grey eyes that somehow… looked rather familiar.

AZKABAN ESCAPE  
Sirius Black, possibly the most infamous prisoner ever to be held in Azkaban fortress, has somehow managed to escape this supposedly unescapable prison!  
This adds more to the fear of all that know what Black was imprisoned for. Not only is he very brutal and merciless, but he must surely be even more powerful than originally thought if he was all to escape.  
"We are doing all we can to recapture Black," said the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, this morning, "and we beg the magical community to remain calm."  
Fudge has informed the Muggle Prime Minister of the crisis. "Well, really, I had to, don't you know," said Fudge. "Black is mad. He's a danger to anyone who crosses him, magic or Muggle."  
While Muggles sighted Black carrying a gun (a kind of metal wand that Muggles use to kill each other), the magical community lives in fear of a massacre like that of twelve years ago, when Black murdered thirteen people with a single curse.

"Was Black a supporter of Voldermort?" I asked.

Ron shuddered. "Man, please stop throwing his name around like that!"

"Yes, I think so." Hermione answered me.

"Can I see it?" asked Nico, reaching over. I handed him the paper. "I mean, Sirius Black seems kind of familiar… I think I must have heard his name somewhere."

"Really?" asked Ron, suspiciously.

"Yeah." he shrugged. "I… need to go to the bathroom for awhile." he got up and left.

"Um… okay." said Hermione, before leaning over and staring at Ron. Ron stared back levelly.

"Don't tell me you're going to bring up the Voldermort thing again!" she whispered fiercely.

"He knows Sirius Black!" Ron argued, equally quietly so that no one else would hear us. "And now he wants to be excused to do something that we won't intrude on!"

"You have to admit, he's acting strange about this." I chipped in.

Hermione looked ready to tear her hair out, so I decided to change the subject.

"So… what do you think Defense will be like?"

Ron shrugged. "Wanna bet it's someone useless again?"

Hermione sighed. "I sure hope not! Defense Against Dark Arts is really important, and if we don't learn anything about it for three whole years we'll be way behind in our OWLs."

"Yeah… who's our teacher this year?" I asked, realizing that I didn't know.

Ron shrugged and Hermione looked struck. "Oh… I can't believe we don't know!"

"Well, to be fair, Dumbledore is supposed to announce these things doing the opening feast." I pointed out.

Ron suddenly looked defensive. "What do you want, Malfoy?" he growled, looking behind me. I turned around and sure enough, Malfoy was standing there in all of his ferrety snootiness.

"Nothing from you, Weasel." he sneered. Then he looked that at me. "What are you staring at, Potter?"

"Nothing, Malfoy." I said with a roll of my eyes. "I'm just sick of your whole 'I'm-the-king-of-the-word' attitude. Why don't you get back to the Slytherin table where you belong."

He huffed and snarled at me. "You think you're so smart, Potter. Feeling heroic again this year, aren't you?"

I scowled. That was the last thing I wanted to do, be heroic and go on some crazy adventure again. The three of us had been hoping that it'll be a normal year at Hogwarts for once.

Before I could think of something to say back, Nico appeared. "Oh, hey, Ferret. What are you doing here? Did the Slytherins disown you out of shame or something?"

Malfoy snarled at him, though looking a bit apprehensive. "You best be careful, di Angelo. I know things you wouldn't dream of."

"Oh, don't worry, I know I wouldn't dream of them." he answered casually. "Those are probably the kind of things I'll have in my nightmares."

Malfoy looked like steam should blowing out of his ears as he stormed away.

"Oh, by the way," Nico called, "I heard your name's actually Malfoy. Why didn't you tell me?"

Hermione snickered. "Priceless, Nico. Priceless."

"See you later, Malcolm!" Ron taunted.


	28. Nyroc Lasky XXVII

_To Delaney: Thank you so much! I do feel a bit pressured by all the criticism sometimes._

_To Catcat: As you will see in this chapter, Remus Lupin is going to be the DADA professor._

_To JarvisAI: Thank you._

_To blackclaw: Okay._

_To Aphrodite child: Good. Though you might have to wait a little longer._

_To Terriermon3908: ..._

_To Anomaly: Thank you. They probably will have another meeting, since problems will very soon be arising..._

_To HowlingRain: The idea of Draco being a son of Athena isn't really an original story, actually, but I don't think anyone else has done it like this. Anyway, you're right, grey eyes and blonde hair and all._

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**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter nor Percy Jackson &amp; the Olympians**

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—Nyroc Lasky—

I checked my coin. 'Be careful at DADA' it said. Luna had sent us that message, then Draco had come over to the Gryffindor table to make sure we got it. I wondered what was going to happen that he was willing to risk breaking slightly out of character for?

I got my answer later, at the dreaded class itself. Personally, no one had much expectations for this class. Our past two teachers had been generally boring.

Our teacher was supposed to be Remus Lupin… James Potter's second best friend.

I took a seat near the front, as usual. Almost everyone else liked sitting at the back.

Lupin came in wearing an extremely shabby set of wizard's robes that had been darned in several places. He looked ill and exhausted. Though quite young, his light brown hair was flecked with gray. Obviously, he had enough stress without having to deal with the lot of us as well.

"You can put away those books, class. You'll only be needing your wands today." he told us, setting the stack of books in his arms on the desk.

We were all surprised and excited. This would have to be the first practical DADA lesson we'd ever had! (unless you count that time back in second year when Lockhart abandoned us with a cageful of blue pixies)

I was trying to remember what James had said about Remus Lupin when Nico suddenly tapped me on the shoulder and I realized that the whole class was following Lupin out the classroom.

Lupin led us into the staff room. There wasn't anyone else inside, but the storage cupboard gave a sudden wobble, banging off the wall. I jumped backward in alarm because that's just what Neville does.

"Nothing to worry about," said Lupin calmly. "There's a boggart in there."

Really? A boggart? Cool! What's a boggart?

Most people seemed to feel that this was something to worry about. A lot of us began backing away. So much for Gryffindor courage.

"Boggarts like dark, enclosed spaces," said Lupin. "Cupboards, drawers, the gap beneath beds — I've even met one that had lodged itself in a grandfather clock. This one moved in yesterday afternoon, and I asked the headmaster if the staff would leave it to give my third years some practice."

In my mind, I was beginning to imagine a dark fluffy ball-ish hamster thing.

"So, the first question we must ask ourselves is, what is a boggart?"

Hermione put up her hand.

"It's a shape-shifter," she said. "It can take the shape of whatever it thinks will frighten us most."

"Couldn't have put it better myself," said Professor Lupin, and Hermione glowed.

Oh, okay, yeah. So how is it going to know what we're most frightened of, anyway?

"So the boggart sitting in the darkness within has not yet assumed a form. He does not yet know what will frighten the person on the other side of the door. Nobody knows what a boggart looks like when he is alone, but when I let him out, he will immediately become whatever each of us most fears."

Wait, what?!

"This means," said Professor Lupin, choosing to ignore my/Neville's small splutter of terror, "that we have a huge advantage over the boggart before we begin. Have you spotted it, Harry?"

Next to Harry, Nico looked downright terrified. My expression mirrored his, and it wasn't just cos I was Neville at the time. I didn't even know what either of our biggest fears were, but it probably wouldn't be a good thing for the wizards to find out.

"Er — because there are so many of us, it won't know what shape it should be?" Harry answered through my thoughts.

"Precisely," said Professor Lupin, and Hermione (who had practically been jumping up and down) put her hand down, looking a little disappointed. "It's always best to have company when you're dealing with a boggart. He becomes confused. Which should he become, a headless corpse or a flesh-eating slug? I once saw a boggart make that very mistake — tried to frighten two people at once and turned himself into half a slug. Not remotely frightening."

"The charm that repels a boggart is simple, yet it requires force of mind. You see, the thing that really finishes a boggart is laughter. What you need to do is force it to assume a shape that you find amusing."

"We will practice the charm without wands first. After me, please... Riddikulus!"

"Ridiculous!" was what we all vaguely said together. Well, we were trying to imitate the spell, but that's what it sounded like to me.

"Good, now, take a moment to think about what your greatest fear is and how to make it funny."

Here was the hard part. What the heck was my greatest fear? Being a son of Thanatos, not much scares me.

My mind began to wander. No wonder Luna and Draco had found this so troubling. They probably had way worse fears than me, actually getting to see the rest of the world and all.

I glanced around me. Most people were whispering and nodding to themselves. A little away from me, Harry looked a bit at loss. I caught eye contact with Nico and shrugged. His body language plainly answered with 'Help me!'

"Ready, everybody?" Lupin asked.

I was far from ready, but people around me were already nodding and rolling up their sleeves.

"Right then, when I call your name please step forward and be ready." said Lupin. "Parvati, you first."

Parvati took a deep breath and stepped dramatically in front of the cupboard.

"I'm ready." she announced, holding out her wand like a sword.

Lupin shot a burst of magic at the cupboard, and a thing burst out. Before I could register what it looked like, it had suddenly turned into a linen-wrapped mummy (ha ha ha ha ha, who looked at a linen-wrapped dead body and said, 'I'm going to name this thing after my mom'?)

Parvati took a few hesitant steps back before straightening again and yelling, "Riddikulus!"

Some linen from the mummy's feet suddenly became unraveled, and it tripped and fell.

"Good!" said Lupin. "Dean, forward!"

The boggart turned into a severed hand creeping along the floor, then it turned into a giant spider for Ron, then a banshee, then a floating bloody eyeball, then a McDonalds clown (yeah, I don't get that either). I kept dreading when Lupin would call me up, because I'll probably just stare in shock at whatever I saw before actually being able to do anything to it. And with my luck, it'll be something that makes me instinctively whip out my swords in front of the whole class.

"Alright, Nico!" Lupin called after Lavender.

Nico hesitated for a second before running up. I watched carefully, wanting to see what his biggest fear was.

The boggart jerked again and turned into… me.

Heads whipped round to stare at me, then quickly turned back when the boggart-me began talking.

"You're useless." it said flippantly. "Paranoid, clueless, pathetic, why would we ever be friends with you? We don't even really need you."

Nico stared, unmoving at it. None of us could see his expression, but I was horrified. Partly because that tone of voice was not new to me, I did actually say things like that sometimes. Maybe not to him, but it wasn't anything impossible.

Nico managed to say a shaky 'Riddikulus!" but all that happened was that the boggart changed again, and this time it was… Draco.

"You're always messing things up!" it yelled. "We were fine until you came along! You do nothing but create problems! You're not even very good at using your powers!"

I winced. Draco had said things like that too, once to me back in first year and then again yesterday when Nico overheard us.

Nico tried to point his wand at it. The boggart shifted into the form of… Ron.

I swiveled my head round to look at him for a second before boggart-Ron began speaking as well.

"I knew we could never be friends from the beginning." it taunted. "I knew there was something odd about you. I knew you were hiding something, and I was right."

It twitched and became Hermione, then commenced in saying, "You lied to me! You lied to all of us! I can't believe I ever liked you! You're such a traitor!"

The boggart no longer waited for Nico to do something to change again, this time into Luna. And what she said, was probably the most painful.

"You can just leave Hogwarts right now. You're not doing any good here. You know you don't belong here, you don't belong anywhere except hell."

At this point, I figured, 'what the hell, my cover's pretty much blown anyway.'

Pushing forward, I ploughed into Nico so that I was blocking him from the boggart.

Of course, that meant that it changed into MY greatest fear. Something completely unexpected.

The boggart shifted into another person. Oh gods, I recognized her. From the one time I visited Camp Half-Blood. Rachel Elizabeth Dare.

Her flaming red hair seemed to be floating again, and her eyes glowed brighter than Harry's while tendrils of green smoke curled around her.

She started to speak, and it was just as I remembered it. Her voice echoed, as though three people were speaking at once.

"Children of magic and children of quest,  
United they fight, abroad they will clash,  
The band of five the truth will unveil,  
The five broken souls trust will thus heal,  
The ages-old rift a battle shall mend,  
And those out victorious succeed till the end."

"Riddikulus!" I cried, getting over my shock of that prophecy being my greatest fear. And I could understand Nico's boggart now— getting abandoned by all of us.

The boggart disintegrated, and I found myself sitting on the floor in the middle of a roomful of nosy thirteen-year-old Gryffindor wizards who had just witnessed our biggest screw-up in our two-and-a-bit years as undercovers.


End file.
